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Naming and Expressing Feelings

Teach children to understand and manage their big feelings.

  1. Print out this page and ask kids to point to a face and name the emotion. Give examples of when one of you has felt (or might feel) that way: “I feel ecstatic (really happy and excited) when it’s my birthday,” or “I felt sad when I broke my favorite toy” or “I feel frustrated if I have to wait to use the swing.” Explain that all the feelings are okay.
  2. Invite children to look at the feeling faces and choose one feeling to show on their own face. Try to guess what that feeling is. Can kids think of a time when they felt that way?
  3. Repeat with the different feelings. When challenging behavior occurs in the future, ask kids to name their feelings. You can refer to the chart, too.