Children often have a hard time understanding or expressing their emotions. Teaching them ways to handle and express what their feeling will help them to lead an emotionally stable life. There are a variety of activities you and your children can do to help them better understand their emotions.
Below are 5 easy expression activities for your children:
Word collage
Randomly chosen words and phrases might not be so random. You can provide your children with magazines to cut out letters, words and sentences from, or allow them to free-form their work using paint or pastels. Doing this activity will help your children to put their thoughts on paper.
Simon says (Feelings version)
This twist on a classic activity encourages you, or a teacher, to ask your children to perform feelings, and then ask them what makes them feel this particular way. For example, if Simon feels sad, you can ask children to act sad, and then ask that they tell you a time they felt sad.
Drawing and painting
There are many drawing activities your children can do to express their emotions. This can be as simple as asking them to free-form doodle, or to paint their feelings. Depending on their age, you can also show them how to participate in more complex drawing exercises, such as drawing their own critic. There are many options to choose from when it comes to drawing and painting.
Journaling
Depending on the age of your child, journaling can be a great way to express emotions and better understand what and why they are feeling a certain way. Your child can do simple journaling activities, such as write a letter to themselves, or you might ask them to create a visual journal if that would be a more productive option.
Group discussion
There are many group activities your child can participate in to better express their emotions. You can ask your child to discuss a positive or negative event that happened to them during the day or week, and ask how it made them feel. You can also incorporate visual elements, such as sad, happy or angry faces and ask your child to indicate why they think the face is feeling that particular emotion.
Expression activities are a great way to learn more about your children’s emotions and also help them to better handle what they are feeling and why. Contact Childventures today to learn more about our many educational programs that will help your children to better express and handle their emotions.
