A warm, play-based social and emotional learning group for children ages 3–5 — building the friendship skills and emotional foundations that last a lifetime.
👶 Ages 3–5🗓 Twice a Week⏱ 90 Minutes👫 Up to 8 Children
About the Program
What happens in every session?
Every 90-minute session is play-based, nurturing, and intentionally designed for little learners.
1
45 mins
Arrival & Free Play
Settling in, connecting with friends, facilitated yet self-directed play to pracitice skills that mirror real life situations.
2
10 mins
Circle Time
Feelings check-in, social story, social skill of the day through song and movement.
3
15 mins
Snack and Social chat
Facilitated snack time practising turn-taking, conversation, and listening
5
15 mins
Buddy Activity
Paired peer play with gentle facilitation — the heart of every session.
6
5 mins
Calm & Goodbye
Quiet wind-down, regulation practice, and a warm goodbye ritual.
Two Levels
So every child keeps growing — never repeating
Children move through two levels within Little Social Stars across their years with us.
1
Level 1 — Foundations
New children · Ages 3–4 · Year One
Predictable routines and transitions — feeling safe and knowing what comes next
Identify and name 5 core feelings — happy, sad, scared, angry, excited
Body signals — understanding what feelings feel like in the body
Build a personal toolkit of 2–3 calming strategies
The 4 friendship skills — getting attention, joining play, sharing ideas, including others
Saying sorry and beginning to repair after conflict
Introduction to 4 problem-solving solutions — trade, wait, find another, walk away
Kinder-Ready skills — lining up, raising a hand, waiting, asking for help
2
Level 2 — Building & Kinder-Ready
Returning children · Ages 4–5 · Year Two
Expand feelings bank — frustrated, embarrassed, proud, nervous, overwhelmed
Identify personal triggers — what changes my zone and why?
Build a personalised toolkit of 5–6 calming strategies
Self-advocacy — "I'm in yellow, I need a moment to calm down"
Complex friendship — compromise, exclusion, staying kind under pressure
Noticing and supporting a friend's feelings
Expand solutions bank from 4 to 9 — adding compromise, talking it out, repair and more
All skills integrated — Kinder-Ready graduation celebration
🎓 Children completing Level 2 receive a Kinder-Ready Social Stars certificate and are celebrated before moving up.