SEL Zoo
Providing underserved families with social-emotional learning resources to foster children’s growth.
Overview
SEL Zoo is a mobile-first platform designed to help parents teach social-emotional learning (SEL) skills to children aged 0–5. Our research uncovered a lack of parent-centered tools to support SEL, especially in under-resourced communities where families face barriers like limited technology access, time constraints, and language challenges.
The project focused on creating a fun, stigma-free app with responsive features, progress tracking, and printable offline resources to support families on the go.
Role
UX Researcher
UX Designer
Front End Developer
Team (4 Members)
UX Researchers
UX Designers
Front End Developers
Tools
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
ReactJS
MaterialUI
Trello
Duration
6 Months
Key Contributions
As a hybrid UX researcher, designer, and developer, I contributed to this project by:
Leading user interviews and synthesizing research insights.
Facilitating design studio and brainstorming sessions.
Wireframing and prototyping user-centered interfaces.
Conducting usability testing and iterating on designs.
Developing front-end components with ReactJS and MaterialUI.
Context
Barriers in Early Childhood Education
Through conversations with Every Child Shines and the Boston Opportunity Agenda, I learned about the many challenges families face in accessing early childhood education. Barriers like limited resources, staffing shortages, and high childcare costs make it difficult for families to find consistent, quality care during critical developmental years.
650 births
per year in East Boston
Source: Harvard Graduate School of Education
1,500 seats
lost in childcare due to an educator shortage.
Source: Boston Opportunity Agenda (Mayor's Office)
$21,000
average cost of childcare per year in Massachusetts
Source: Economic Policy Institute
Many children, not enough childcare
Systemic barriers like resource gaps, high childcare costs, and staffing shortages underscore the need for accessible solutions in early childhood education.
Research
Digging Deeper into Early Education Needs
To better understand the challenges faced by families in East Boston, my team and I explored different aspects of early childhood education through research and interviews. Several key issues emerged that shaped the direction of our project:
Key Issues
Digital Access
Families often lacked reliable technology, making it difficult to engage with online resources.
Inconsistent Quality
Early education programs varied greatly, leaving lower-income children underserved.
Resource Navigation
Parents faced hurdles such as language differences, time constraints, and limited tailored support.
Social Emotional Learning is Overlooked
Through my research—including annotated bibliographies, white papers, and interviews with SEL program members—I learned how crucial social-emotional learning (SEL) is for children in East Boston. However, SEL often takes a backseat, leaving a clear gap between children’s emotional needs and the support available to them.
What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?
SEL equips children with the skills to manage emotions, build relationships, and make responsible decisions—critical for academic and personal success. At the heart of SEL are five core competencies:
Self-Awareness
Social Awareness
Relationship Skills
Responsible Decision-Making
Self-Management
Why SEL Matters
Research highlights SEL’s long-term benefits for children:
11% improvement
in academic performance
Source: CASEL, 2011. "The Impact of Social and Emotional Learning on Academic Achievement"
22% reduction
in problem behaviors
Source: American Journal of Public Health, 2015. "Long-Term Effects of Social Emotional Learning Programs"
For communities like East Boston, SEL offers a vital framework for helping children navigate emotional and social challenges.
Mapping Our Focus
We couldn’t tackle every challenge in early childhood education, so I led collaborative mapping sessions to synthesize insights and prioritize needs. These efforts highlighted SEL as the most impactful area to address, offering a way to support both children’s development and parents’ involvement.
Through affinity mapping, mind mapping, and system mapping, we grouped common challenges, revealed connections between themes, and explored how SEL interacts with key factors in early education.
Who Are We Designing For?
After narrowing our focus to SEL, we identified three key relationships in early education:
Educators supporting Parents
Parents guiding Children
Educators working directly with Children.
Ultimately, we determined that empowering parents to lead their children’s emotional growth would make the most meaningful impact. By positioning parents as the primary educators of SEL, we could address the unique challenges faced by families in East Boston.
Parent Perspective
While secondary research gave us a solid foundation, Lisa, a parent partner at the East Boston Social Center, shared insights from her work with families, giving us a clearer view of the challenges they face.
Stigma
SEL is often only associated with severe behavioral issues.
Time
Parents juggling multiple jobs struggle to dedicate time to SEL.
Language Barriers
Non-English-speaking families face difficulties navigating resources.
Lisa’s feedback reinforced the need for a solution that’s accessible and adaptable to the challenges of busy, multilingual households. Her insights helped us focus on creating a solution that empowers parents to support their children's emotional growth.
Meet Beth: The Busy Mom
Throughout the design process, we kept our target audience—busy parents—in mind. Bethany, a working mother of two young children, exemplifies the type of parent who would benefit most from SEL Zoo.
Challenges
Exhausted after work but wants to spend meaningful time with her kids.
Struggles to find simple and engaging ways to support her children’s growth.
Feels preschools alone can’t teach her children everything they need.
Beth’s story helped us empathize with busy parents and prioritize their needs throughout the project.
Problem Statement
How might we help busy parents like Beth teach social-emotional skills their young children in a way that’s fun, rewarding, and convenient?
Design
Exploring Ideas
We began by sketching ideas based on the 5 core SEL competencies. My focus was on creating interactive activities around Self-Awareness and Self-Management.
Key concepts like progress tracking, accessible resources, and simple, engaging activities formed the foundation of our design.
Design Considerations
We kept several key factors in mind to ensure the platform was accessible and engaging for under-resourced communities:
Affordable Resources
Many SEL solutions are expensive, so we aimed to provide free or low-cost tools to ensure broader access.
Mobile Platform
Given that smartphones are the most accessible device, we prioritized a mobile-first approach, allowing parents to easily access SEL resources on the go.
Encouraging Growth and Independence
We envisioned a progress tracker that encourages children to take ownership of their learning while allowing parents to celebrate their achievements.
To avoid comparisons and pressure, I advocated for a judgment-free onboarding process, focusing on family progress.
Our Approach
We envisioned a mobile platform for parents of children aged 0 to 5 years old, offering personalized SEL content, activities, and resources that could easily integrate into their daily routines.
Design Process
Guided by these considerations, my team and I began shaping the SEL-based mobile app, ensuring it was both engaging and accessible for families.
Wireframes
With the visual direction set, we moved into prototyping. Starting with low-fidelity wireframes, we focused on simple navigation, progress tracking, and activity pages. I ensured the wireframes were intuitive for families, especially those with limited tech experience.
Exploring Visual Direction
Inspired by children's storybooks, we created moodboards that shaped the SEL Zoo concept. Each SEL pillar was represented by a playful animal mascot. I pushed for bright, vivid colors to engage children while keeping the app approachable for parents.
From this exploration, we created visual specs that included typography, color palettes, and UI components, all designed to foster a friendly, approachable feel.
Creating the Animal Mascots
The animal mascots weren’t just playful visuals—they helped children relate emotionally to each SEL pillar, making abstract concepts like ‘Self-Awareness’ easier to grasp. These mascots became central to the app’s branding, tying all the visual elements together.
Refining the Experience
Using the moodboards and visual specs, we transformed the lo-fi wireframes into high-fidelity designs. I balanced the playful, vivid visuals with ease of navigation, organizing activities by SEL skill to ensure an intuitive experience.
Solution
Final Design Screens
Our final design delivered a playful and engaging experience tailored for parents and children. The SEL Zoo app features vibrant animal mascots, a progress tracker, and bite-sized activities, all designed to make SEL education accessible and fun.
Key Features
Simple Onboarding
Quick sign-up with the option to browse activities without logging in.
Progress Tracker
A simplified tool to monitor SEL progress.
SEL Activities
Bite-sized activities that focus on the 5 SEL pillars.
Other Features
Animal Mascots
Fun, engaging characters representing each SEL skill.
Offline Flip Cards
SEL activities parents and children can do without internet.
Gamification
Confetti animations reward children for completing activities.
Development & Implementation
We worked in one-week sprints, assigning tasks based on team strengths and conducting weekly reviews to maintain steady progress.
Tech Stack
ReactJS: For a smooth, single-page application experience.
Firebase: For user authentication and data storage.
MaterialUI: To streamline UI component development for consistency and usability.
Challenges
Ensuring the design was mobile-first to accommodate families with limited access to desktops.
Simplifying site language for multilingual parents.
Adapting to time constraints by prioritizing core features over extras like the resources page.
Changes from Designs
To meet technical and time constraints, we streamlined the progress tracker and removed certain features to focus on delivering immediate value to families.
Final Product
Despite the challenges, we successfully launched a functional, demoable website that embodies the project’s goals.
Live Demo: https://sel-zoo.web.app
Codebase: GitHub Repository
The final product empowers parents with the tools to integrate SEL into their children’s daily lives, bridging critical gaps in early childhood education.
Outcome
Making SEL Accessible
We handed off SEL Zoo to Every Child Shines and the East Boston Social Centers, where it continues to support local families. The platform was also showcased at Northeastern’s RISE Expo and Boston’s Office of Early Childhood, sparking meaningful conversations about the importance of SEL. Parents, educators, and community leaders expressed enthusiasm for SEL Zoo, highlighting its accessibility and practical approach to addressing a crucial yet often overlooked issue in early education.
How SEL Zoo Addresses Key Challenges
Our design choices for SEL Zoo focused on creating an app that’s accessible, free, and convenient for busy parents, while also breaking the stigma around SEL. Here’s how we anticipate the features we built will address the challenges faced by parents and educators.
Challenge
How It’s Solved
Impact
Parents struggle to find time for SEL activities
Mobile-First Design allows parents to access activities on the go.
Easier engagement with SEL anytime, anywhere.
Offline Access & On-the-Go Activities make it easy to access SEL anytime.
Negative stigma around SEL (focus on behavior problems)
Focus on Individual Progress & Growth through the progress tracker.
Encourages celebration of small wins, reducing pressure.
Limited household resources for activities
Resource-Light Activities can be done using common household objects.
Ensures accessibility for families with limited resources.
Reflection
What I Learned
Working on SEL Zoo taught me a lot about flexibility and collaboration, especially when bridging design and development. This project also made me reflect on my own childhood and how tools like this could have supported families like mine. I genuinely believe that SEL is crucial—not just for academic success, but for helping children build the emotional skills they need to navigate life’s challenges. Giving kids these tools early can make such a difference, and it’s far better to build that foundation than to try to fix things later.
Next Steps
SEL Zoo has the potential to grow into an even more powerful resource for families. Moving forward, I’d love to see:
Expanded community-specific resources tailored to cultural and local needs.
Collaborative features to foster a sense of connection among parents.
Enhanced usability through continuous testing and feedback from real users.
Final Thoughts
SEL Zoo was an opportunity to create something meaningful for families who often feel overlooked. It showed me how thoughtful design can open up possibilities, giving parents simple, accessible ways to support their children’s emotional growth. This project reinforced my belief in the power of early intervention and the difference even small tools can make when they meet real needs.
