We know that we must teach emotions to young children.
But it can be tough.
Read on to get some ideas on just how to teach emotions that you can start implementing today.
And if you are wondering if unwanted student behavior which is making the classroom a struggle is due to not understanding emotion, check out this FREEBIE. Here is a free 5 step process to writing a behavior plan that will help you figure out what is really going on. It also includes some great data collection forms. All sent straight to your inbox.
Books to Teach Emotions
There are so many great stories to teach emotions out there.
Books are a fantastic way to learn about this subject due to the fun nature and great illustrations. You can have some very insightful conversations with children about what they see in the illustrations alone.
Here are some awesome children’s books to teach emotions that I have used over the years:
The Feelings Book by Todd Parr
This super colorful book goes through different emotions showing how they look on faces.
It is such a great book on how to teach emotions to toddlers.
Each page is filled with bright colors and playful scenes that Parr is known for. It draws children in and invites them to talk openly about feelings. Both emotions they see and how they have had their own situations with the same feelings.
What are Feelings: Lift-the-Flap First Questions and Answers by Kate Daynes
This book is amazing for pairing different emotions with fun animals.
The different animals in the book talk about five basic emotions. And it even explores different times one would feel those emotions.
As a super big added bonus it even gives ideas of how to cope with those strong emotions. Having these vocab terms and coping skills paired with the fun concept of a lift-the-flap book is perfect when looking to teach emotions to toddlers
The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
What I love most about this book is how it pairs each emotion vocab word with a situation. And that situation is one where a child would really feel that way.
The illustrations are bright. And the character’s facial expressions & body language fit each emotion so well.
This would be an awesome book to use when looking at how to teach emotions to preschoolers
Activities to Teach Emotions
One of the best ways when thinking of how to teach feelings and emotions is by making it a game. Children love anything that is turned into a game, am I right?
Find the Emotion
Looking for how to teach feelings in a simple, quick way?
Just select several high-quality illustrated books ahead of time.
Start the lesson by reminding students how emotions look with facial expressions.
Next, have children find different emotions in the books using the pictures.
For younger students, talk about what a specific emotion looks like and then focus on finding just that emotion. When they find it, have a discussion about how they knew that emotion was being felt by that character via looks.
Such a simple and fun activity.
If you are looking for a digital version, check out these FREE boom cards.
This freebie resource focuses on three primary emotions: happy, sad, and mad. The first few slides show what the different emotions look like on the face. Then students match the feeling vocab word with the party hat showing that emotion.
Each card in this deck is read aloud so reading ability doesn’t get in the way.
This boom deck is self-checking so students know if they are on track instantly. And it automatically reshuffles for play again and again.
Find this great FREE Identifying Primary Emotions Boom Deck here.
Play Guess the Emotion with Scenarios
Give students a simple situation and have them guess what emotion is being felt.
You could also have teams if you have a bigger group playing.
Here is an example: “I have a big smile on my face and am bouncing all over the room because I can’t sit still.” The emotion being guessed is ‘excited’.
When thinking about how to teach feelings and emotions, it is important to relate emotions to things that happen in their lives. This helps students generalize what is being taught to what is going on outside of the lesson time.
Giving them real-life scenarios helps to bridge this gap.
Emotion Headbands Game
If you are looking for another fun game, check out this already created headbands game.
Children pick a card that contains one of the 12 different feelings. There are even blank cards to draw on for added personalization.
Cards are in three different types (simple round faces, faces of children, and dog faces). This gives you the ability to choose what interests your child(ren) best.
I use this in correlation with the Headbandz game. Students slip in a card in their headband and then need to ask yes/no questions to figure out what emotion they are wearing. (This low prep resource even contains question cards for students who need prompts.)
Students love how interactive and fun this game is. You will love seeing just what emotions are learned during gameplay. Click here to check it out.
Videos to Teach Emotions
Video clips are a great way when thinking of how to teach about emotions. They are super visual so it is easy for students to notice and identify emotions in other people.
In my classroom, I’ve found this to be very effective for students to first notice how emotions look on others. This includes facial features, voice tone & words, as well as body language.
There are so many great movies that teach emotions. The reality is just about any kid-friendly movie can do this. Tying the concept of learning to something that is high-interest to a student helps make the activity of learning emotions one that is enjoyable for students to do.
When selecting movie clips to teach emotions, I’ve found students’ attention is great for a few minutes (shocker, right?). Otherwise, they tend to get into the storyline instead of looking at the emotion being shown.
Additionally, characters experience so many emotions within a short amount of time. So the longer the segment, the greater the chance that multiple emotions will be shown. Having a long segment leads to students struggling to identify the intended emotion. I’ve found it works best to have a snip-it of two to four minutes is best.
YouTube is a great place to find video clips to teach emotions for free.
Need Help Complying Videos to Teach Emotions?
If you are looking to save yourself some major time complying video clips, check out this bundle of two done-for-you resources here.
Combined, there are over 140 movie clips each. All clips are broken down into four main categories of feelings down feelings (sick, tired, sad), calm feelings (happy, content, ready to learn), heightened feelings (stressed, frustrated, excited, silly, nervous), and extremely heightened feelings (anger, rage, terror, explosive behavior).
This resource is so simple to use. Just find the emotion category you want students to practice. Then read the titles to see if anything pops out at you. Click the link below the title. This will automatically redirect you to YouTube where the video clip will be played.
Not sure what to ask students after watching the clip? No worries! There is an included conversation guide.
This no-prep resource is really as easy as download and click to use. Find it here.
Looking for more ways? Check out these other great ideas:
Classical Music to Teach Emotions – find some great information and songs to teach emotions at Let’s Play Music.
Information from PennState Extension – if you have a preschool child you might want to check out this post on how to talk with preschoolers about emotions.
I hope you find some great ways on how to teach emotions to kids in this post.
Happy teaching!
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