Games & Activities to Teach Kids About Emotions
Games and activities about emotions help teach your kids about respecting other people's feelings and how to respond to them. They can also learn how to express their emotions. No matter what activity or game you decide to introduce to your child, remember to keep the conversation going so they can become more comfortable sharing their emotions with you.
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Emotions Bingo
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Grab a piece of paper to make your own bingo card. Draw boxes and draw or cut out pictures that reflect different emotions in the boxes. Write out a list of emotions that correspond with the bingo cards. Cut out the words and place them in a container. Mix up the words in the container. Use coins as markers for the bingo cards. Pull out words from the container. If the child has a picture reflecting that emotion, he can put a coin over it. The player who completes a full line across, down, or diagonal first wins. You can take time during the game to ask the child what makes him feel happy, sad or angry.
Emotion Flashcards
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Use index cards to make emotion flashcards. Cut out pictures from magazines or draw them yourself. Choose pictures that represent neutral, angry, sad, happy and afraid emotions. Shuffle the cards when they are finished. Place the cards on the table face down. The first player picks up a card, but doesn't show it to anyone. The player mimics the face and the opponent tries to correctly guess the emotion. Then it's the next player's turn to pick a card and mimic an emotion. While you play, discuss emotions, how to recognize these emotions in others and appropriate responses to those emotions.
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Emotions Collage
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Use old magazines, poster board and glue to make emotion collages. You can start by looking for pictures of specific emotions. As you glue pictures that evoke or represent different emotions, discuss different emotions that the child may feel or how important it is to respect other people's feelings. Discuss what might make people feel happy, sad or angry. When the collages are finished, display them in the kid's room or playroom.
Emotion Match Up
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Use emotion flashcards to play this game. Write words to match the emotion flashcards on index cards. Shuffle all of the cards. Deal them out in rows face down. Take turns flipping over two cards, trying to match the picture to the emotion. Once all the matches are made, you can shuffle the cards and play again. This helps children to recognize how different emotions look, so they can recognize and respond to them accordingly.
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