Check out this simple and inexpensive craft to help preschoolers show and tell how they are feeling before melt-downs happen!
As a preschool teacher and a mom, I see it everyday… little princes and princesses who just can’t quite put their emotions into words. Perhaps they are feeling angry that a friend took the toy they are playing with. Maybe they are feeling nervous about starting a new play group. They might even be feeling sad about dad working out of town this week… Or it could even something that happened days and days ago that is suddenly bothering them now!
Because understanding all of these feelings is still a new idea to preschoolers, it can be hard for them to put into words how they are really feeling. As I’m sure we have all seen (way too many times) this can end in frustration, tantrums and sometimes total, complete meltdowns right in the middle of the grocery store!
In my preschool group last week, we had a lesson on emotions. After doing some fun activities to help the kids learn some basic emotions, we made this simple craft to help the kids show how they are feeling. I think that sometimes it is easier for kids to show how they are feeling, rather then trying to put it into words. After they are able to show how they are feeling, it’s a lot easier for them to talk about why they are feeling that way, and work out their problems before it gets to total meltdown time.
After getting some really sweet comments from some of the parents of kids in my class, about how well it
was working out for them at home, I decided to share our simple emotions wheel craft here to! Hope it helps!
Emotions Wheel:
You will need:
• paper plate
• clothes pin
• foam stickers
• small magnet
• crayons/ markers
1. Take the paper plate and divide it into 4 sections. On each section draw a simple emotion face (Happy, sad, worried, mad)
2. Let your preschooler decorate with crayons and stickers while you talk to her about what each emotion is and how that feels.
3. Take 2 foam stickers and attach double-sided to the end of a clothes pin. Show your preschooler how to clip it onto how they are feeling right then.
4. Attach a small magnet to the back of the plate so it can hang on the fridge for easy access.
5. When you see your child starting to get upset at some point, bring out the wheel to start a conversation about how they are feeling
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