Express Your Feelings Character Education Activity

Children learn to manage feelings when they first learn to name them and talk about them. This express your feelings character education activity gives kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students six clear feelings to practice: happy, sad, angry, scared, surprised and bored. Each feeling has its own bright face, so even children who are not reading yet can join in.

Children start with the Feeling Bracelets. Each child picks the bracelet that shows how they feel today, tapes it around a wrist, and finishes the sentence “I feel ___ because ___.” Next comes Feeling Charades: a child takes a secret Feeling Card, acts it out with face and body, and classmates guess the feeling. The twelve Talk Cards ask “How would you feel?” about everyday moments, such as an ice cream cone falling on the ground, and the Speaker and Listener Talk Mat gives children sentence frames for sharing and for repeating back what a friend said. A kindergarten practice worksheet asks students to draw a line from each face to its feeling word.

What’s Included

• A colorful cover and a How to Use page
• 6 tape-on Feeling Bracelets
• 6 Feeling Cards for charades
• 12 How Would You Feel? Talk Cards
• A Speaker and Listener Talk Mat
• A kindergarten practice worksheet
• Answer keys for the cards and the practice page

Why This Feelings Activity Helps Kids

First, naming a feeling is the first step to handling it, and a shared set of words gives the whole class a calm way to talk. Second, acting out feelings helps children read faces and body language, which builds empathy for friends. Third, the sentence frames turn a feeling into a full spoken sentence with a reason, which is the speaking and listening skill young students practice all year.

Ideas for Teachers and Parents

Use the express your feelings character education activity at morning meeting, in a calm-down corner, or with a small group during social and emotional learning time. Keep the bracelets in a basket so children can show a feeling when words are hard. This kindergarten character education activity also works at home: wear a bracelet at dinner and take turns telling how your day felt.

Related Resources

• Feelings Worksheet
• Describing Emotions Worksheet
• Finding Feelings Worksheet
• Character Songs