Identifying, recognizing, and naming emotions is the first step children need to take toward emotional education. Later, they can begin to regulate and control them, but the first step is undoubtedly to know them and understand that we all have them; some express them in one way and others in another, but they are a fundamental part of our lives.
To carry out this task, I want to suggest 6 activities that can help you work on this first phase of emotional education at home while having fun with your little ones. Don't forget that the best way to learn, always, is by playing and having fun:
LET'S DRAW FACES!
We ask the child to draw facial expressions of basic emotions:
- Joy
- Sadness
- Fear
- Anger
- Surprise
- Shame
The idea is to draw faces on a sheet of paper that reflect different emotions. Before starting to draw, we can take the opportunity to talk about what it feels like when we feel that way (scared, angry, happy, or sad...). It will also help us to think about how our face looks when we feel those emotions (the position of the mouth, the eyes, whether there are tears or not, redness in the cheeks, etc.). We can ask them questions so that they reach their own conclusions and then put them on paper. Once the drawings are done, the child can show them to other people to see if they identify the different emotions in the faces.
This game will help us talk about emotions with the child, so they learn to differentiate them, to name them, and to begin to understand that all people experience these emotions at some point.
AND YOU? HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?
We propose different situations and the child must say how they would feel in that situation or how the person experiencing it would feel:
- The teacher tells you how well you did an activity in front of the whole class
- You fight with a friend
- You're riding a bike and you fall
- Your grandma/grandpa picks you up from school
- Another child takes your ball
- You can't go on a trip because you got sick
- You can add all the situations you can think of!
CHILDREN'S MINI-STORY:
We present a situation (a mini-story) that leads to talking about emotions and discussion. Distancing themselves from stories always helps them better understand situations and put themselves in other people's shoes:
- Example: all the children are playing "duck, duck, goose" at recess. Suddenly, another child (Jorge) arrives, and the other children don't let him play because they say there are too many of them. They tell him to go somewhere else, that he can't play...
- How would Jorge feel?
- What would his expression be?
- How would the other children feel?
- Another example: in a race, we are winning, and at the last moment, we fall. How would we feel? And if we come in last?
Giving COLOR and SHAPE to EMOTION:
Let's play at giving colors and characteristics to emotions!
- What color do you imagine anger to be? What does it smell like? What does it taste like? What is its texture? And its shape?
- What about sadness?
- Joy?
- And fear? Surprise?
- Let's let our imagination fly and have some laughs with them... anything goes... then, let's get to work and draw them!... let's see what comes out...
THE HIDE-AND-SEEK OF EMOTIONS:
We present various expressions and play to discover which emotion might be hidden behind them:
- I had a great time; I'll never forget this day
- Wow! Why didn't I think of that before?
- I'm very sorry for hurting you
- I'm not going to play with him anymore!
- Ouch!
- Poor child, I feel sorry for him
- Help! Help!
- And all those expressions you can think of to contextualize emotions...
HOW DOES EACH PERSON REACT?
What do you do when you feel these emotions? How do you react? It's important to reflect on this with the child so they realize that each person can have different reactions to the same emotion. In this first phase, it's not about judging them, but simply understanding that each person reacts in their own way... To illustrate this, we can show them that we react differently than they do, or give examples of other close people:
- Great joy: jumping, laughing, telling others, etc.
- Sadness: crying, telling mom or dad, being alone, being thoughtful, hugging my favorite stuffed animal, etc.
- Surprise: communicating it to others, standing still, jumping, putting hands on head, etc.
- Fear: running away, crying, screaming, standing still, etc.
- Anger: screaming, insulting, hitting, holding back, going to a corner alone until it passes, telling the teacher or parents, etc.
I hope these games are helpful to you. If you liked the post, share it!
