In early childhood, it is very important to build emotional awareness and interpersonal skills, as well as developing appropriate coping strategies and mindfulness techniques. Expand your child’s emotional vocabulary and stimulate their emotional development with these fun activities, emotional games, breathing exercises, and more! From focused personal pursuits, there is something for every child!
1. Philopoly
Feelopoly is a spin on the popular game Monopoly. As the player moves around the board, the goal is to validate each emotion the player lands on. Players learn how to identify different emotions and coping skills, recognize the physical sensations that different emotions trigger, and validate emotions in themselves and others.
Details: Counseling palette
2. Feel, act and draw
This fun game is perfect for tweens, teens and college students. Inspired by the classic game Charades, this feeling game blends discussion prompts with image-based cues. Players must work with their respective teams to complete prompts and advance the game board.
Details: Counseling palette
3. Feeling Mime
These sentiment mime-it cards are a great way to visually display your emotions. Each student chooses a card and takes turns acting out the given emotion. Other members of the class guess what it is.
Details: English Club
4. Feeling Sound
Similar to the activity above, but this time the class must rely on audible sounds rather than visible actions to make inferences. Each contestant receives an emotion card with a word on it. Then act out the words using sounds instead of actions. For example; students can yawn when the word is “tired”.
Details: English Club
5. Tochika
Tochika can be compared to Jenga. The main difference is that players must answer a series of self-esteem-based open-ended questions as they take blocks from the tower. To extend the gameplay, each player contributes to each question to open up the discussion.
Details: Amazon
6. Speak, feel and play games
The Talking, Feeling, and Doing game is a standard board game for ages 4 and up. It is often used as a therapeutic tool to enable therapists to learn more about the patient’s psychological processes and devise the course of action that best suits the intervention. Depending on the child’s reaction.
Details: Amazon
7. what they feel
This amazing online game exposes learners to the history of emotions. They delve deep into how emotions have changed over time, analyzing how people interpret the same expressions in different ways.
More information: Emotion Lab
8. Emotion board game
Play 1-on-1 with your child at home or work as a team in the classroom. Each player is given a turn to draw an emotion card and must match it to the corresponding location on the game board. If you draw a heart card, you will be prompted to answer a question about your emotions before moving to the closest heart on the board.
Read more: Life Beyond C
9. Dress-up play
Playing dress up is a great way for your child to get in touch with their feelings. It allows them to be openly involved in all aspects of their weird and wonderful little personalities and to accept others in the same way.
Additional Information: Authorized Parent
10. Dance Your Feeling
Dancing is a proven stress reliever and a powerful emotional regulator. With this in mind, find a variety of upbeat songs to play in your classroom to encourage learners to dance their hearts out!
Additional Information: Authorized Parent
11. Tumble dryer
Ask the learner to find a comfortable position on the floor. sitting with his legs crossed. Bring your index fingers together in front of your mouth. Then, when you are ready, you can move your fingers in a circular motion while taking a deep breath and exhaling through your mouth.
More information: Cosmic Kids
12. Bumblebee Breath
The bubble breath is commonly known as Bramli in pranayama practice. Breath control in yoga. Have the learner sit cross-legged and take a deep breath through their nose. When you are ready to exhale, place a finger in each ear and exhale.
More information: Cosmic Kids
13. Paper Plate Face
These paper plate faces are a great visual representation of the emotions we feel inside. Bring them up in class and have learners identify emotions expressed by facial expressions as quickly as possible.
Additional Information: Authorized Parent
14. Mad Dragon
Control your child’s anger with this therapy card game. Players will practice her 12 anger management techniques and learn how to express themselves calmly. With a firm understanding of what anger feels and looks like.
Additional Information: Support for Parents with Sensory Processing Disorders
15. Chill, Chat, Challenge
This emotion-focused game aims to break down communication barriers across generations. Helps parents connect with their teens on a deeper level. Players simply take turns answering and discussing questions based on different scenarios.
Additional Information: Support for Parents with Sensory Processing Disorders
16. Anger Catcher
Print out this cool anger catcher template for each learner in your class. They can take the time to color it as they host a class discussion on how to control our temper. It can be used when you feel strong emotions coming.
More information: Home Story
17. Unger Bingo
Anger Bingo is another great game for banishing the unpleasant effects of negative emotions. This board provides learners with strategies to help them when they feel angry or upset. Play as normal and the first he wins three in a row wins.
Learn More: My Free Bingo Card
18. Anger Dice Game
In this simple game, the player must roll the dice, read the prompt or question next to the number rolled, and answer it. This is a great way for teachers to read quickly about students, their difficult emotions, and coping strategies chosen.
Details: And then L
19. Breathe in a windmill
Teach learners to breathe with windmills to help them regulate their emotions. When your child is overwhelmed, take a moment and encourage them to reflect on themselves. You can pick up the windmill, take a deep breath, and then exhale through your mouth to blow the windmill away.
Read more: Positive Psychology
20. Balance on one leg
Physical games are great for developing focus and body awareness. Encourage students to practice balancing on one leg while paying attention to their body, its capabilities, and its limitations.
Read more: Positive Psychology
21. Social communication board game
This board game is great for developing empathy. To play, students are asked to think of how they can best handle a series of uncomfortable social scenarios.
Details: Pathway 2 success
22. Roll & Spin Countermeasures
This Roll & Spin Coping Strategy Chart is great for teaching students how to deal with a wide range of negative emotions. Students roll dice, spin roulette, and lay out numbers on the table to find the right strategy.
Details: Pathway 2 success
