Activities for Teaching Preschoolers About Feelings

Feelings Book

• Assist your preschoolers with identifying different feelings like happy, sad, mad, scared, silly and excited. Then ask the children to draw a picture of something or someone who makes them feel each feeling. By folding three pieces of construction paper in half and stapling them together, each child can create her very own book. Have the children write the name of the feeling they want to illustrate and either draw a picture of something that makes them feel that way or cut out a picture from an old magazine. This activity helps the children to start thinking about how they feel and what makes them feel that way.

Reading "The Way I Feel" Book

• Have the class sit in a circle while you read the book "The Way I Feel," by Janin Cain. This book illustrates common emotions and reactions to those emotions that children experience. When you finish reading go around the circle and ask the children how they react to different feelings. For instance, you could say "Billy, what do you do when you are feeling scared?"

Feelings Vocabulary Activity

• Learning how to use feelings vocabulary is a vital part of learning about feelings. If a child cannot express how he feels he is more likely to act out on his feelings instead. Using the white board or the chalk board write a few different feelings categories such as happy, mad, sad, excited and scared. Then ask the children to give you some words that describe each feeling. For example, some words that describe "happy" are "joyful" and "smiling." Help the children come up with words that describe the feeling if they get stuck.

Feelings Art Project

• Using red, yellow, green, blue, orange, black and white paint, have the children paint different feelings. Red can be associated with anger and passion; yellow with fun, happiness and sunshine; green with nature and relaxation; blue with sadness or comfort; orange with hunger or fun; black with fear and evil; and white with good or clean.

  After you discuss the feelings associated with the colors, have the children paint how they feel. When they are finished with their painting, ask them to describe what they were feeling and why they chose the colors that they used.