Character strengths such as love, kindness and forgiveness promote emotional health, positive relationships and enhanced well-being for children and adults. Yet little research has investigated how early childhood educators practice love, kindness and forgiveness at work, or how they observe these virtues in children. A strength-spotting intervention was adapted from positive psychology to collect 216 written examples of teacher and child love, kindness and forgiveness from 16 early childhood educators while they attended professional development in a large northeastern city in the United States. Behaviors associated with these character strengths were then coded using content and thematic analysis. Teacher and child "love" were most frequently associated with empathy and spontaneous affection. Teacher and child "kindness" were frequently associated with helpfulness and friendship. Teacher and child "forgiveness" were characterized by giving someone another chance, letting go, responding with kindness and speaking positively. Empathy, generosity, helpfulness and courtesy emerged as interrelated expressions of love, kindness and forgiveness. These traits are discussed in relation to goals of social-emotional learning, such as promoting secure attachment relationships.