<p>With increased urbanization, the need to create a child-friendly society for all has increased in urgency. Ensuring children’s right to participate in the development of child-friendly cities is a crucial part of this effort. This study used focus group interviews to explore action framework for creating a friendly social environment from the philosophical perspective of children in current Chinese social contexts. This study was conducted in three primary schools located in urban, rural and rural‒urban fringe areas. With the school’s consent, we enhanced the sample diversity by randomly selecting 6–12 third- and fourth-grade students, as well as 8–12 fifth- and sixth-grade students from each school. In total, six focus groups consisting of 53 primary school students were formed. The results indicated that a friendly family environment consists of seven dimensions: family communication; support; companionship; interaction; respect and equality; conflict and violence avoidance; and the normative behavior and positive qualities of family members. A friendly school environment was found to involve seven dimensions: teacher‒student relationships, peer relationships, a student-centered learning environment, student involvement, parental involvement in school life, the personal characteristics of adults working at the school, and children’s responsibilities. A friendly community environment was found to consist of six dimensions: neighborly relationships, community support, civil community behavior, community activities, children’s participation, and children’s sense of responsibility. The children were also guided to discuss strategies for improving friendly family, school and community social environments. This study identified children’s perspectives on friendly social environments and concrete strategies for building these environments, which can be used as important theoretical support for work practices in current Chinese culture.</p>