This week is all about understanding our feelings. All of the activities below focus on helping kids understand identify and understand a full spectrum of feelings, and emphasise how we can find, and do, the things that make us, and people around us, feel good.
MOVE
- Sunshine and exercise are proven mood-boosters! So head to a new park or playground (maybe some of the new playgrounds reviewed by our Undercover Mum) and take your balls, bats, bikes, scooters and get those little bodies moving.
Singing and dancing have similar physical effects to exercise so throw your own dance party and incorporate a game of Freeze, Just Dance and some Karaoke for Kids.- If you know someone who is sick or in need of a friend, lift their mood by taking the kids to visit them and talk to your kids about how human contact makes people feel better, because it makes us feel less alone.
MAKE
- Make your own a Funny Faces Flipbook and discuss how the emotions change as the pages turn.
- Create a Positivity Pack* by having your kids collect any pictures, photos, artwork, souvenirs, poems, books, little toys that encourage positive emotions.
- Find a quiet corner in your house and turn it into a Comfort Corner, a place your child can go when they begin to
feel like their feelings are bigger than them or they need some space. Have them help you choose what should go into their corner (and include their Positivity Pack). - Make a family of Feeling Sack Balloons
BAKE
- Everything you eat this week should have some kind of face on it!
- Think mini pizza faces with shredded bacon hair and olive eyes, blueberry-decorated pancakes, or party pies with faces drawn on using tomato sauce. It doesn’t have to be tricky, every meal is an opportunity to talk about feelings and how we can read people’s faces to try and understand how they are feeling.
- Bake these Emoji cupcakes and simplify the decorating by using candy hearts or candy eyes. Or make it even easier still by getting your kids to help you mix and ice one large emoji cake.
PLAY
- Play a game of emotions charades to encourage identifying feelings.
- Put on a play. As you read out a story, ask your child to act out the feelings of the characters described.
- Get out the paints and ask your child to use whatever colours they like to make a masterpiece. After they’ve finished, ask them what the feeling or mood of their painting is and what makes it feel this way.
- Grab a whiteboard, or chalkboard and draw a blank face on it. Change the features one at a time and ask your kids to imitate each face and identify the feeling.
READ
- ‘When I’m feeling…’ series by Trace Moroney
- ‘Everybody feels…’ series by Jane Bingham
- ‘A kids’ guide to feelings’ series by Kirsty Holmes
- ‘The great big book of feelings’ by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith
- ‘50 ways to feel happy’ by Vanessa King
- ‘My mixed emotions’ by Elinor Greenwood
- ‘The very cranky bear’ by Nick Bland
LISTEN
Spotify Playlists:
Podcasts:
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- Happy: All about feelings pt 1 (Brains On)
- Sad: All about feelings pt 1 (Brains On)
- Angry: All about feelings pt 1 (Brains On)
- Nervous: All about feelings pt 1 (Brains On)
- Feelings Week (Chompers)
- Stress (Mindful Kids)
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WATCH
You can pick almost any movie or TV show to highlight different feelings. As you watch with your children, ask them what they think certain characters are feeling. Then go on to ask them how they were able to identify the feeling.
Some especially good examples of shows that explore our feelings are below
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- Inside out (Disney +)
- Home (Netflix)
- Big Hero 6 (Disney +)
- Word Party – Episodes: Tired Lulu, The Upsidedown smile (Netflix)
- Storybots super songs – Episode: Emotions (Netflix)
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Thanks for following along with us. We’d love to see what you and your #busykids get up to this week so tag @MumsoftheShire in your Instagram photos and stories!
Be sure to look out for our week 3 guide- Going Green!
Or jump back to check out what we got up to in last week’s theme: All About Australia.
*King, Vanessa, 2000, “50 Ways to Feel Happy”, Sydney, Bauer Media Ltd.
