Feelings & Emotions Activities for Toddlers

Feelings and emotions activities help develop toddlers' social and emotional skills and can prevent behavior problems. According to University of South Florida professor Lise Fox, an expert in early childhood special education, and her colleague Rochelle Harper Lentini, young children with a large vocabulary for feelings and emotions can better express themselves than children without one. Improve your toddlers' vocabulary with a few simple activities.

  1. Photographs

    • Some toddlers need help identifying complex emotions.

      Toddlers are learning how to read emotions and feelings on faces. Take photographs of different facial expressions to help children identify them. Capture emotions, such as scared, happy and surprised. Write the correct feeling on the back of the photograph. Use them like flash cards with the children and ask them which emotion is being expressed. If there are conflicts with a group of children, instruct the children to point to which photograph expresses their feelings.

    Drawing

    • Divide up a large piece of paper into six or more equal boxes. Ask children to draw different emotions and feelings into each box. Discuss with the children how each box feels. Play a bingo game using their drawings. Create cards with different emotions and feelings and randomly choose them for the game. Once an emotion is called out, the child places a chip onto the box on their drawing. The first child to place chips on an entire row or column wins.

    Puppets

    • Many children feel more comfortable talking with a puppet than an adult.

      Use playroom puppets for feelings and emotions role-playing. Act out classroom or home situations, such as when child falls down and hurts herself. Puppets can act out different scenarios and ask the children how they would feel. Once the children are comfortable with the puppets, they can be used to help problem solve at school and home. Bring out the puppet when a child is upset or happy. The puppet can speak to the child and encourage children to use their emotional vocabulary.

    "I Feel" Statements

    • Sit the toddlers down in a circle to learn about "I feel" statements. Act out a role playing scenario with a child taking another child's toy away. Ask the child whose toy was taken away how he feels. Instruct them to use an "I feel" statement. For example, the child may state,"I feel sad when you take my toy away." The statements explain clearly their emotions and feelings. The child who took away the toy would respond by giving reasons why he took the toy in the first place. "I feel" statements help toddlers get in touch with their emotions and feelings.

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