Feelings

We will be learning how to identify different feelings by looking for feeling clues on a person's facial expressions and body language. When children can identify their own emotions, they have more effective social skills and display less aggression. Happy and sad will be the feelings we focus on this lesson. Children can practice looking for feeling clues and talking about what makes them happy and sad. 

We are learning how to become feelings detectives and identify more feelings. In this video, we are learning about the feelings of surprised and scared. In addition to looking at someone’s facial expressions or body language, we are also looking at situational clues or what is happening to identify a person’s feeling. Children can practice looking for feeling clues and talking about what makes them happy, sad, surprised and scared. 

We are learning to identify the feeling “angry.” Another word for angry is mad. We can look for clues on a person’s face and body and look at what is happening. It is okay to feel angry, but it is never okay to hurt someone when you are angry. Children can practice identifying happy, sad, scared, surprised and angry and talk about what makes them feel this way. 

It is acceptable for children or adults to think the same or differently about a specific situation. This is an important skill that begins to teach social perspective taking and helps children realize others may not feel the same way they do. In addition to social perspective taking, children can also use visual discrimination skills to determine what is the same and different about a situation. 

An accident is when something happens and you did not mean for it to. Everyone has accidents. It is important to let someone know when you had an accident, so they do not think you did it on purpose.  You could use words such as “I’m sorry. I did not mean for that to happen. It was an accident.” It is always nice to offer help after the accident happened. 

If a friend is upset, children can show how they care by trying to help their friend or saying something kind. You can talk with your child about how they can show they care and help at home. 

When someone is worried, they may feel their tummy hurt, heart beat faster or breathing become faster. Children will learn it is important to talk to a teacher, parent or adult when they recognize these clues and feel worried. You can ask your child who is someone they can talk to at home and school. 

It is common for children to have strong feelings about a situation. This lesson will focus on learning about the feeling of frustration and how to calm down. A child can feel frustrated if there is a task that is hard to accomplish such as zipping a coat or putting a puzzle together. Frustrated is an uncomfortable feeling and needs to be managed. Children can begin to manage strong feelings by using the calm down steps. The first step is to put your hand on your tummy and say “Calm Down.” You can talk to your child about what makes them frustrated and practice the first calm down step at home. 

 The first step in calming down  is to put your hand on your tummy and say “calm down.” The next step is to name your feeling. Naming your feeling is important because it activates a different part of the brain and makes the feeling less strong. Your child can practice naming their feelings by talking about how they feel about different situations at home and school. 

During the last two lessons, we focused on learning the calm down steps. The first two steps are to put your hand on your tummy, say “calm down” and name your feeling. The last step is to take belly breaths. The calm down steps can help children when they have strong feelings about something and can’t have it. This feeling is called disappointment. You can talk with your child about what may disappoint them at school or home. You can also role play the calm down steps with your child at home. 

During the last few lessons, we have practiced how to use the calm down steps when we are upset. It is okay to be angry, but it is not okay to hurt someone when you are angry. We will focus on how our bodies feel when we are angry and relaxed. Your child can practice using the calm down steps or Cub Breathing techniques such as the volcano, smell and blow the flower or butterfly hug at home. 

As a young child, it can be challenging to wait. There are several times at school children must wait including washing hands, taking turns, waiting for a snack or waiting in line to go outside! It is important to learn how to calm down and wait appropriately. The calm down steps, cub breathing techniques, singing songs and counting are all great ways to help children wait. What is the best way for your child to wait at home?