I believe this is a tool that parents, teachers and therapists could use to potentially help their children learn more about emotions in a fun and interesting way.
Emotions are a tricky thing and there is rarely a time in our lives that we are not dealing with them, be it our own or those around us. As children grow and develop they can also go through stages that will see them struggle to regulate or understand why they feel a particular way.
Now let me be clear, I’m absolutely no expert in this area and we have our share of supermarket meltdowns, however, I like to think I try my best to help Possum (2.5 years) during those moments of struggle and I’m constantly learning and experiment with various techniques and ideas that might just work. This is just one of those.
Easter eggs聽that are so easily available at this time of the year. Following the instructions below, you can create your very own tool for teaching emotions in kids.
You will need –
- Plastic eggs that break in half
- Permanent marker
- Modelling clay (optional)
Quite simply, I began drawing a variety of facial expressions on each of the plastic eggs. Some were demonstrating emotions of being happy, sad, confused, angry, proud etc. I used the modelling clay in the base of each egg to keep them standing (or bobbling) upright.
Of course the joy of these emotional eggs is that you can break and mix them up to create a whole lot of new and interesting emotions. It’s so fabulous and interesting to see how much a face can change just by the shape of the eyes or position of the mouth.
After a little while I started to get stuck for ideas. That’s when I got out my iPhone and used the emotion option to get more ideas of eye shapes and mouths. This will help those who are not so great at drawing as you can simply copy the illustrations shown.
Role play for the little ones
Possum thought they were hilarious and couldn’t wait to play around with them. These eggs are fabulous for her age because she had a great time role playing with them and together we acted out little scenarios that explored emotions. It also prompted great discussion about how each egg was feeling and why it might be feeling that way.
Playing copy cats
We also had fun copying the faces drawn on each of the eggs. Some where much more challenging than others and it did seem to give us a good muscle work out in the face (LoL).聽To take this a step further I demonstrated by example of what each of the egg faces looked like and described how it felt. Whilst this was probably too advanced for Possum, she seemed interested so I simply went with it.
Mirror, Mirror
It’s a great idea to have a mirror on hand so children can reflect on what they look like showing different emotions with their face. It can actually be quite a funny experience. This type of approach highlights to children that we show so much emotion with our eyes, eyebrows and mouth. This can be extended for older children to explore body language.
For older children
My gorgeous niece had lots of fun mixing and matching the eggs. For children who are older, these emotional eggs would be a great tool as often this age don’t feel so comfortable to verbally share how they are feeling. An alternative could be for children to show how they are feeling using the eggs.
It’s a creative outlet for older children to express how they are feeling.
This is such a clever idea! And so clever to look at emoticons for inspiration!!! You are a genius!
I’m a bit of a emoticon junky Kate. LOL
Thanks for your comment.
I LOVE this, I actually have some of those eggs sitting around & Dimples loves going over different emotions (and making faces of course).
Great photos 馃檪
Love this!! I think my son will be old enough for this next year when we pull all our plastic eggs out again! 馃檪
Thanks Hayley! I hope you and your family have a lovely Easter. I seem to find those plastic eggs down the back of the couch throughout the year. LOL
This is genius! Such a great way to explore emotions and deal with some of the tough topics!
Lovely post Kate 馃檪
We used use Tiny Teddy biscuits to talk about emotions too.
My 8 yr old adopted son has great fear when speaking of how he sees others. I want him to tell me about what they seem like to him…and how he feels when he is with them…I am going to draw many pairs of eyes and many mouth shapes…and let him put together the two to help him describe his day…thanks for the great idea.
Linda thank you so very much for taking the time to comment about your dear son. I really hope that this idea helps him in some way. 8 year olds often have so much going on in their little heads. Best wishes to you and thank you again for commenting. 馃檪
What the movie Inside Out …
It a great movie to tie in with this…
Such a cute idea. I always have spare ones of these floating around… especially now, haha. A great tool for classrooms as well. Thanks for sharing 馃檪
They are adorable! Might have to check out the after easter sales to get some of those eggs 馃檪 My daughter would love this.
Thank you so much Melissa. 馃檪
What a cool idea! Sharing and pinning.
I think my kids would have a blast with these!
Love this idea! I will definitely be using it with my 4 and 2 year old…thanks so much!
kate this is an awesome idea – thank you so much for sharing it so willingly. working with kids who don’t seem to like talking, most of all about some of those harder feelings/emotions, this tool will be excellent.
What a simple but fantastic idea!! I work with kids and am always looking for interesting ways to help them learn about emotions. I’ll be adopting this idea for sure and would love to hear more ideas!
Thanks!
Thanks Karen. Feel free to subscribe to my blog and keep informed. 馃檪
I give you permission to use ONE photograph with credit only. Thank you.
Such a gorgeous idea! Love it 馃檪
Good for you! I’m a paediatric Occupational Therapist and one month ago I found pre-made eggs with facial expressions at the dollar store. I had the same idea as you and used them in a treatment session with a child with Autism who needs help identifying emotions. Now I will make more eggs just like you, right on!
Thank you Renee for your wonderful feedback! All the very best to you.
I absolutely love this idea of using eggs to express emotions. Very creative! I will definitely use this activity in my Spanish class!
Thanks for sharing!
How wonderful! Thank you so kindly for your beautiful comments. I hope I can continue to help you find good ideas for your class.
Great idea! This also supports fine motor skills (connecting/disconnecting) as well in the cognitive domain through matching. LOVE!
Thank you Nadia, you’re absolutely right! 馃檪 Much appreciate your comment, lovely.
Thanks so much for this activity. I oversee a RAINBOW group of 27 primary school students. They loved this activity. Each facilitator did it a little differently- but everyone declared it a resounding success. 馃檪
Oh Ann that is just so wonderful to hear that feedback. I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know.
Best wishes. 馃檪
I love this idea. I just moved to teaching 2/3 year olds, and was trying to find some hands on fun to teach emotions. Pictures and books just didn’t seem as fun. I love the mix and match idea, and I know I have some old eggs around somewhere. Thanks for the great idea. I can’t wait to see their reaction.
Thanks Jessica. I absolutely loved reading your message. So glad you like this one. So simple to make too. Best wishes to you and your 2/3 year old group. Kate
I have seen a bunch of thing of your you are very crafty. I wish I was like that. I am actually a student how was look for something to do a project in one of my high school classes and I run into some of your things. I love all your ideas they are very cool.
Love this idea… I think it will be of great help to teach my son emotional intelligence! Thank you