July 30th is the International Day of Friendship! Developing friendship skills in early childhood lays the foundation for children’s emotional well-being, cooperation, and social success by teaching them how to navigate social relationships, understand others’ feelings, and engage in positive peer interactions. Literacy activities, especially those that center around shared reading, storytelling, and conversation are powerful research-supported ways to support children’s friendship skills.
Reading aloud to children offers opportunities to model and discuss pro-social behaviors such as sharing, turn-taking, and showing empathy. Books featuring friendship themes can help young children identify emotions, recognize different perspectives, and practice conflict resolution. For example, stories like Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson or Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems 
create natural openings for conversations about caring for others and making kind choices. Embedding social-emotional learning into early literacy activities helps children build vocabulary around emotions and improves their ability to interact with peers ( Linder, 2023).
Interactive read-alouds are particularly effective when adults ask open-ended questions like, “How do you think the character felt?” or “What would you do to help a friend in that situation?” These questions promote empathy and perspective-taking, essential components of friendship (Shin et al., 2022). Singing songs, acting out story scenes, or using puppets to retell stories also encourage cooperative play, communication, and collaboration—skills that foster strong peer relationships (Gerde & Schachter, 2020).
Infants and toddlers also benefit from literacy-based interactions. Sharing simple picture books with images of children playing or comforting each other provides visual cues about friendship. Repeated exposure to these stories, along with nurturing adult guidance, supports the social-emotional development of our youngest learners.
Here’s a list of effective strategies for supporting friendship skills using literacy activities:
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Selecting Friendship-Themed Books: Choose stories that highlight empathy, kindness, problem-solving, and cooperation. Look for books with diverse characters and realistic social situations.
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Using Interactive Read-Alouds: Pause during reading to ask open-ended questions and encourage children to reflect on characters’ emotions and actions. For more information about effective shared reading, see this previous blog post about the evidence-based interactive read-aloud strategy Dialogic Reading: https://blogs.iu.edu/earlyliteracy/2021/09/17/all-about-dialogic-reading/
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Modeling Emotion Language: Label emotions and talk about the circumstances shown in books (e.g., “She looks sad because her friend left. What might make her feel better?”) and describe the facial expressions and body language associated with different emotions. These practices build children’s emotional vocabulary and understanding.
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Creating Story-Based Social Scenarios: After reading, talk about similar situations children may experience (e.g., “What can you do if a friend doesn’t want to share?”) and brainstorm solutions together.
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Incorporating Role Play and Dramatization: Use puppets, props, or dress-up to act out story scenes. Role-playing helps children practice problem-solving and cooperation in a safe setting.
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Providing Group Reading Activities: Pair children during reading or retelling activities to foster turn-taking, listening, and teamwork.
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Book-Making : Invite children to create their own books or drawings about being a good friend, allowing them to express their understanding through creative expression.
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Embedding Friendship Themes into Music and Movement: Sing songs about friendship or kindness and include movement to reinforce social messages through rhythm and repetition.
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Including Visual Supports: Use visual aids like feeling charts or character cards from books to support continued conversations about friendship.
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Partnering with Families: Share friendship-themed booklists and activity ideas with families to reinforce skills at home and strengthen school-to-home connections.
By intentionally choosing books and literacy activities that highlight friendship themes, caregivers and educators can help young children develop the foundational social-emotional skills they need to form healthy, lasting relationships.
Check out this CASEL brief for more information on the connection between literacy and social-emotional skills: https://casel.org/role-of-sel-in-improving-literacy-development-introductory-brief/
Lynne Hall is a Research Associate at the Early Childhood Center. She holds a Master of Science in Education and an Indiana instructional teaching license (Early Childhood Education and Services; Elementary/Primary Generalist; Elementary/Intermediate Generalist). She formerly taught preschool in a variety of settings for over 15 years. Her expertise includes early literacy instruction, equity in early childhood education, and inclusive classroom practices.
Email her at hallma@iu.edu
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