For example, “I feel angry when my friends won’t wait for me and my mouth turns down, my forehead crinkles and my teeth clench.”

Talk about and model together how your face looks when you feel each emotion on the wheel. Experiment with a range of voices to represent a range of emotions.ĥ. Choose an emotion and then sing a familiar song (Happy Birthday works well) in a voice representing that emotion. This is a great way of opening conversation between family members about their individual experiences during time apart.Ĥ. At home, hang the wheel as a check in point for each family member to indicate how they feel about their day as you gather at the end of the day. Develop empathy by referring to the wheel as you discuss how others may have felt in a situation/book/movie that you are discussing.ģ. Label their emotions by referring to the wheel and the past experiences they have recorded there.Ģ. As they debrief talk about how they felt during the experiences they share. For parents, use the wheel as you talk with your child about their day, especially if they have been away from you at school. Ways to Use Your Completed Emotions Wheelġ. Or to draw or write how their body reacts to that emotion. Can you draw a picture of that memory in this part of the wheel?Īlternatively, you could ask your child to draw their face when they feel each emotion.Can you share an example of a time that you felt angry/sad/happy?.What is this emotion? How does our body feel when we feel angry/sad/happy? How does our face look?.

Talk through each of the emotions on the wheel. Choose the one that best suits the age and developmental level of the child/ren you are working with.Īs you introduce the wheel talk about the fact that all emotions are helpful, even the big and overwhelming ones and that making an emotions wheel can help us to identify how we are feeling at any given time. There are three versions of the printable included below – from a simple 4 piece wheel to a more complex 8 piece version. Teaching children emotional regulation involves helping them to identify what triggers big feelings, how their body feels as it responds and what they can do in the moment and this printable My Emotions Wheel is a great tool for doing just that. Helping children learn to recognise and cope overwhelming emotions is an ongoing process that certainly doesn’t stop when they enter primary or elementary school, in fact I would say emotional regulation becomes even more important in the vast social network of school.

Color wheel teaching kids emotions