Friendship Building and Maintenance
The capacity to initiate, develop, and sustain positive peer relationships and friendships through social interaction, shared interests, and mutual care
What the research says
Framework evidence being indexed.
Full quotes, source languages, and document links coming soon as we finish the source-evidence indexing pass.
Prerequisites
Foundational skill — no prerequisites indexed.
What mastery looks like
Limited peer interaction; does not seek out specific peers; minimal social engagement
- Prefers adult company
- Does not show preference for specific peers
- Limited social initiation
Shows interest in specific peers; beginning to seek out familiar children; brief friendly interactions
- Recognizes and greets familiar peers
- Shows preference for certain playmates
- Engages in brief social exchanges
Forms friendships with several peers; seeks out friends for play; shows care for friends' feelings
- Has identifiable friends
- Seeks specific peers for activities
- Shows concern when friends are upset
- Shares experiences with friends
Maintains stable friendships; uses strategies to sustain relationships; shows loyalty and mutual care
- Sustains friendships over time
- Resolves conflicts to maintain friendships
- Shows empathy toward friends
- Includes friends in activities
Demonstrates sophisticated friendship skills; facilitates peer connections; understands friendship dynamics
- Helps others make friends
- Navigates complex social situations
- Discusses friendship qualities
- Maintains multiple friendships
Related activities
No activities directly mapped to this yet. These are age and domain-appropriate alternatives.
Share Bear
Parent and child practice sharing using stuffed animals or siblings. The agent coaches the parent to observe the child's willingness to share, understanding of fairness, and emotional response to giving and receiving.
Kindness Quest
Parent and child plan and do three kind things for family members. The agent coaches the parent to observe the child's empathy, initiative, and understanding that kindness makes others feel good.
The Helping Game — Working Together
Parent and child complete a household task together while the agent guides a discussion about why we help others. The agent observes the child's cooperation quality, willingness to participate, ability to share tasks, and language around helping. This activity bridges prosocial understanding with real-world practice.
Your Turn, My Turn — The Sharing Game
Parent and preschooler play structured games that require turn-taking — rolling a ball, building together, or a simple card game. Agent guides parent to observe waiting ability, sharing, empathy, and social regulation during interactive play.
Affection-language practice
Parent teaches and models short affectionate phrases in your family's language(s), and invites the child to say them back. Builds emotional vocabulary and comfort with declarations of love. Agent coaches the parent to keep it light and not force reciprocation.
Co-authored story
Parent starts a short story, then hands off to the child, back and forth. Agent coaches the parent to follow the child's wild story choices seriously and keep the narrative moving. Observations track child's narrative contributions and parent's willingness to follow unexpected turns.
Formal assessments
No matching assessment items indexed yet.
Standardised assessment view
1 instrument measure this construct. The construct page shows how each one approaches it and at what age range.
View as assessment construct →