Feelings
Tips - Feelings- Children need to know that they can talk about their feelings. Set an example by telling them how you feel and why. Daddy is feeling sad today because… Mummy is cross because…
- When your child experiences difficult emotions, such as anger or nervousness, encourage them to name their feelings and talk about them.
- Keep drawing materials and Playdough handy. It is sometimes easier for children to 'draw' or 'make' their feelings, rather than talking about them.
- Bedtime is a good time to talk about what has happened during the day and to discuss any issues that are troubling your child.
- Want a recipe to make your own Playdough? Click here.
| Activity 1 | Show your feelings |
| Aim | To improve your child's abilities to identify and describe feelings |
| How long will it take? | 10 minutes |
| What do I need? | Crayons and paper |
| What do I do? | Ask your child to draw pictures that show how people feel - draw a happy boy, a scared girl, an angry man, a sad woman. Alternatively, the child can look at magazines and find pictures of people showing different feelings. Ask about the pictures. "Why do you think the boy is happy? Why is the woman sad? Have you been angry? How did it feel?" You can also play this game if your child is upset. Drawing pictures helps children to express their feelings and encourages them to talk. |
| Activity 2 | Do you see what I see? |
| Aim | To help your child to recognise and identify other people's feelings |
| How long will it take? | 10 minutes |
| What do I need? | Nothing |
| What do I do? | Ask your child to identify people's feelings. They can be characters on TV, family members or people in a public place. Your child should tell you how the person is feeling - and why they think that. This is a good activity to try when you are waiting for a bus, eating in a busy restaurant or walking in the park. You can play too, taking turns with your child. |
| Activity 3 | Our feelings diary |
| Aim | To help your child identify his or her own feelings and the feelings of others |
| How long will it take? | 5 minutes a day for a week |
| What do I need? | Crayons, paper and old magazines |
| What do I do? | Each evening for a week, you and your child need to show one feeling you had during the day. You can draw a picture, write down simple words or find pictures in magazines of people who feel the same as you. Display the seven days' feelings together. This helps children to understand that our feelings change - sometimes we are happy, sometimes sad. It can also be fun to act out these feelings and see if the other person can guess what they are! |
| Activity 4 | Today I felt... |
| Aim | To improve your child's abilities to identify feelings and to learn ways to cope with those feelings |
| How long will it take? | 10 minutes |
| What do I need? | Nothing |
| What do I do? | Sit down with your child. Each of you should think of one good thing that happened to you today and one bad thing. Take turns to explain how you felt and why you had those feelings. For the bad thing, tell your child clearly what you did to make yourself feel better. You can prompt your child by asking 'What else could you have done to feel better?' This is a good activity to do at bedtime. It is important for you to talk about your own feelings, as well as listening to your child. |
| Activity 5 | Managing anger |
| Aim | To improve your child's ability to identify ways of coping with anger |
| How long will it take? | 10 minutes |
| What do I need? | Nothing |
| What do I do? | This activity needs to be done soon after your child has been angry - at bedtime that evening or the following day. Talk about the incident and ask why they were so angry. Ask how they coped with it and prompt them to think of other things they could have done - for example, talk to someone, take deep breaths, think about something nice. Remember: solutions must make your child feel better but not have negative consequences for other people. You can also use this activity to explore ways of coping with other difficult emotions, such as nervousness or jealousy. |
| Activity 6 | Coping with nervousness |
| Aim | To improve your child's abilities to identify ways to cope with nervousness |
| How long will it take? | 10 minutes |
| What do I need? | Pen and paper |
| What do I do? | All young children feel nervous from time to time and it can be very uncomfortable. Help your child to identify and describe a situation that makes them nervous. Ask them to describe the feeling, and then discuss ways of dealing with it. You may need to give some suggestions - taking deep breaths, talking to someone who can help, thinking carefully about what to say. Write the suggestions on a piece of paper and let your child illustrate each one. Then hang the paper on the wall, where you and your child will see it often. This activity can be particularly helpful if your child is feeling nervous about something imminent. Talking about it beforehand will help them to cope |
