7 Fun Ways to Teach Your Little Ones About Feelings

We see it all — the joy of splashing in the pool, the tears when it's time to leave the park, the frustration when mom says "no" — all those BIG feelings. As a parent, you're along for the ride, serving as both a guide and a teacher as your child learns to understand and manage their emotions.

Big feelings are expected in the early years. Your child's brain is growing rapidly, and emotional regulation is one of the major skills being developed. That’s why this is the perfect window to introduce emotions in a playful, engaging way — helping lay the foundation for your child's lifelong emotional well-being.

I’ve gathered 7 simple and fun activities to help your young child learn about their feelings. These games, visuals, books, and songs are perfect for kids ages 1–5 — and support healthy emotional development in early childhood.

What Can I Do With My Young Child to Help Them Learn About Their Feelings?

7 Playful Emotion Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

1. "I'm Your Mirror" Game - sit across from each other and "make feeling faces" and try to mirror and imitate them while guessing which feeling face. Bonus: You can play the same game with an actual mirror so they can practice seeing their face too.

2. "Act it Out" Game - Take turns acting out emotions and guessing which one. Being dramatic with your body language and facial expressions. This helps kids tune into the cues in identifying emotions in others.

3. "Be a Detective" - When you watch shows, read books or are out in public be a "detective" and try to guess emotions you see in other's around you.

4. Put up a Feelings Visual - create or print out a visual of basic emotions to put up in their room or up where they can often see it at home. This creates opportunities to integrate into the day to day and often time kids will naturally begin to use it to share how they are feeling with pointing to pictures.

5. Read Books Together about Emotions - For kids under 3, I love books with real kid faces to practice identifying (see the first 2 listed below). Books are a simple and great way to introduce emotional vocabulary and practice identifying feelings in pictures.

   • Making Faces: A First Book of Emotions by Abrams Appleseed

   • Lots of Feelings by Shelley Rotner

   • Color Monster by Anna Llenas

   • The Way I Feel by Janan Cain

   • In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek

   • A Little SPOT My First Feelings and Actions Box Set by Diane Alber

6. Emotion Puppets or Stuffies - Buy or make emotion puppets/stuffed animals and use them in pretend play, puppet shows and games.

   • Feelings Family Hand Puppets

   • Spots of Emotions Stuffies -> I use these in my office with the Spots Books

   • Color Monster Feeling Finger Puppets -> these go with Color Monster Book

7. Sing Songs - Listen to, learn to sing, or watch simple animation songs about emotions.

   • ABC's of Feelings Songs by Diane Alber

   • Share My Emotions - Pinkfong

   • Kids Feelings and Emotions SONG Animation with A Little SPOT by Diane Alber

   • When Your Feeling Happy Clap Your Hands by Diane Alber

Tips for Teaching Emotions to Little Kids

✨ Wait until their calm - It can be tempting to "teach" about emotions when kids are upset. Keep in mind before using any of these ideas, kids learn the best when they are calm and happy. This is when their brains are ready to learn and engage.

✨ Make it interactive - Add in movement, something they can hold or a fun way to interact together.

✨ Keep it short and sweet - Have you seen the attention span of little kids? Follow their lead for how long they can attend to any kind of activity (regardless of how fun you make it.)

✨ Less Questions, More Modeling - When we think about "teaching" it can feel like lecturing, avoid too many questions or instructions and try to use more modeling & curiousity.

✨ Have fun! - The more playful it is the most likely they will be interested in learning about feelings.

A Gentle Reminder for Parents

In the early years it is completely normal that it is a roller coaster of emotions. It is also completely normal that these skills take lots of repetition and are learned over time. Every time you engage with them in a fun way to learn more about their emotions you are scaffolding their skills for a lifetime of coping with their emotions.

Need more support around managing big feelings with your toddler or preschooler?

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Download a Handout Version of the Tips Here:

7 Playful Activities to Teaching Toddlers and Preschoolers about Feelings