Movies About Emotions: Teaching Social Skills
How do we teach our children social skills—especially neurodivergent children who may face challenges understanding emotions and social nuances? It’s a question many parents, educators, and autism advocates grapple with daily. Social skills aren’t just about understanding others—it’s also about forming connections, building relationships, and thriving in social situations.
One effective and accessible way to teach social skills is through storytelling, specifically film. Movies about emotions allow children to explore feelings, social dynamics, and perspectives in a safe, engaging, and structured way. They open up conversations about emotions, actions, and consequences, giving children tools to understand and relate to the world around them.
This blog will outline why movies about emotions are a powerful medium for teaching social skills, introduce practical therapies for autism and that affirm neurodivergence, that support neurodivergent children, and offer film recommendations that encourage social development. If you’re a parent, educator, or advocate, you’ll walk away with actionable strategies to help children learn social skills.
Why Are Social Skills Important for Neurodivergent Children?
Social skills are foundational for building healthy relationships and navigating social interactions. For children on the autism spectrum, developing social skills can be more complex due to challenges with reading facial expressions, interpreting body language, or understanding social cues. These skills often don’t come intuitively and may require explicit teaching and practice.
When children learn social skills:
They better understand emotions—their own and others'.
They create meaningful connections with peers, fostering friendships and reducing feelings of isolation.
They improve communication skills, enhancing their ability to express feelings and needs.
They boost resilience, as they better relate to and manage social situations.
While some may assume that children with autism cannot develop social skills, this is a misconception. With the right tools and teaching methods, neurodivergent children can build these social muscles in a way that works for them.
Using Movies About Emotions as a Tool to Teach Social Skills
Movies are not merely entertainment—they’re vehicles for experiencing new perspectives and emotions. For children with autism, films serve as a visual and auditory way to explore social situations, making abstract concepts like social skills more tangible.
Why movies about emotions work:
Structured narratives help children follow clear cause-and-effect relationships, making it easier to see how emotions influence actions.
Rich visual storytelling provides a way to observe nonverbal cues like facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language.
Engagement through characters allows children to connect with someone else’s perspective in a low-pressure way.
Discussion opportunities empower adults to guide learning by asking questions or explaining concepts.
Here’s how you can maximize the impact of films:
Pause during key scenes to ask, “How do you think [character] feels? What would you do?”
Watch movies together, encouraging your child to describe what they observe.
Explore films with diverse characters and challenges to teach compassion for different lived experiences.
Therapies for Autism to Complement Movie-Based Learning
Teaching social skills goes beyond watching films. It involves creating opportunities for children to practice recognizing emotions, expressing their own feelings, and interacting with others. Here are practical therapies for autism and activities to complement film-based learning:
Leverage Social-Relational Approaches Social-relational therapies focus on improving interpersonal skills through activities that foster communication and connection. Examples include:
DIR/Floortime: Follow your child’s lead in play to help them explore social interactions at their own pace.
Social Skills Groups: These structured environments give children a chance to practice interactions in a supportive, collaborative setting.
Role-Playing Scenarios: Recreate social situations in a safe space, allowing children to experiment with responses and behavior.
Use Visual Supports For neurodivergent children, visuals bring clarity to abstract concepts. Pair discussion questions with visual aids like:
Emotion Cards that depict different facial expressions.
Social Stories that explain what to expect in specific social scenarios.
Charts or Posters that illustrate emotions and their related behaviors.
Practice Real-World Application Encourage social skills beyond structured settings by incorporating meaningful day-to-day activities:
Volunteering: Create opportunities to interact with different groups (e.g., community clean-ups).
Shared Play: Foster peer interactions through cooperative games.
Emotion Journals: Help children track their feelings and observe how others express theirs.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) CBT can help children explore the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and actions. Therapists work with children to identify emotions and develop strategies to manage situations that require social understanding.
Use Technology Apps and online tools can reinforce social skills-building exercises:
Apps like Peekaboo Barn and Touch & Learn – Emotions introduce younger children to identifying and understanding emotions in a fun, interactive way.
Tools like Mightier use biofeedback to help kids manage emotional regulation.
These therapies for autism help provide a well-rounded approach, teaching social skills in different contexts—movies, therapy, technology, and everyday life.
7 Movies About Emotions That Teach Social Skills to Kids with Autism (and all kids)
Here are some excellent films to help children learn social skills, complete with questions to spark conversations after viewing:
Inside Out (Ages 6+) Follow Riley as Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust guide her through life’s ups and downs. This film explores complex emotions and helps kids learn that all feelings are valid. Discussion Starter: “What does it mean to feel ‘mixed emotions’ about something?”
Zootopia (Ages 8+) Explore themes of stereotypes and bias as Officer Judy Hopps teams up with Nick Wilde to solve a case. Discussion Starter: “How do Judy and Nick’s opinions about each other change?”
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Ages 7+) This film’s heartwarming story teaches compassion and acceptance of those who are different. Discussion Starter: “Why do the kids and adults react so differently to E.T.?”
To Kill a Mockingbird (Ages 12+) A powerful story about racism and social skills, centered on Atticus Finch’s defense of an innocent man. Discussion Starter: “What does Atticus mean when he says you need to consider things from someone else’s perspective?”
Beauty and the Beast (Ages 6+) This story shows how understanding someone’s inner self goes far beyond appearances. Discussion Starter: “Why does Belle start to care for the Beast?”
Fiddler on the Roof (Ages 10+) Explore how culture and tradition shape emotions, relationships, and perspectives. Discussion Starter: “Do you think Tevye changes his perspective over the course of the story?”
Napoleon Dynamite (Ages 11+) A quirky film about friendships and celebrating everyone's unique traits. Discussion Starter: “How do Napoleon and Pedro show that they care about others?”
Use these movies to spark meaningful conversations and help children explore social skills in a relatable way.
Guiding Neurodivergent Kids Toward Connection
Building social skills in children with autism is not a one-size-fits-all approach—it’s about meeting them where they’re at and introducing tools that resonate with their unique experiences. Movies about emotions can provide that connection point, alongside therapies for autism (and all kids), structured activities, and real-world practice.
By incorporating storytelling into their emotional learning, parents, educators, and advocates can give neurodivergent children the tools they need to understand themselves and others more deeply. Want guidance tailored to your child’s needs? Explore resources through autism specialists or connect with local social skills groups that prioritize emotional development. Together, we can nurture a kinder, more understanding generation of kids—one story at a time.
