9 Ways To Explore Emotions With Toddlers & Preschoolers

Emotional regulation involves recognising emotions, using language to express feelings, learning to calm oneself down in the face of overwhelming emotions, and learning to treat others with kindness and empathy. And these are skills and behaviours that need to be learned. Toddlers and preschoolers are learning so much about themselves and their place in the world. They are often overwhelmed with big emotions and their often extreme reactions to these emotions – such as tantrums, yelling, hitting, biting – can cause great frustration for parents and care givers.

But learning to master big emotions and the associated social skills of emotional regulation helps children to succeed not just in childhood but right through to adulthood. This collection of playful activities is perfect for engaging young children with recognising, thinking and talking about emotions, an important first step in the process of learning to manage emotions in more socially acceptable ways.

Toddlers and preschoolers love stickers and these DIY Emotions Stickers are great for starting conversations about emotions.

Create faces representing a range of emotions with this Make a Face Printable via Mr Printables.

Sing about emotions with the How Are You Feeling Today? song via Playschool.

Make a Hug Jar for your home via Homegrown Friends.

Use Picklebums’ Printable Faces Play Dough Mats to create emotions with play dough.

Make a set of Worry Dolls via My Little Bookcase.

Check out these Emotions Eggs and three fun ways to play. Via Laughing Kids Learn

Books provide a wonderful way to talk to children about emotions. Here are some great stories to get you started.

Make and play with 10 Ways to Use Emotions Cards via Moments a Day.

You may also like our series of Managing BIG Emotions posts…