My girls had so much fun playing Hedbanz on a play date with friends recently that it got me thinking about how easily the game could be adapted to become a fun way to further the conversation with your children about big emotions. Having regular conversations about their (and our) emotions helps kids to become more emotionally intelligent – as they learn to recognise and manage their emotions and develop the ability to keep calm in the face of overwhelming emotions (and to act in healthy, socially unacceptable ways in response to them), they begin to feel more confident, competent and capable. And our game of Which Emotion Am I? is another tool parents and educators can add to their big emotions toolkit as they help children to develop these skills.
Which Emotion Am I? Exploring Emotions Guessing Game
You will need:
- A loop of elastic to fit around each player’s head (or use the Hedbanz bands if you have the game)
- A set of emotions cards (see below), printed onto photo paper or cardstock and laminated for durability (optional)
To play:
- Shuffle the emotions cards and place them on a stack face down in the middle of the table.
- Each player selects a card from the stack and tucks it into their elastic headband (facing out) without looking at it. Now everyone can see which emotion each player has, except their own
- Starting with the youngest player and proceeding clockwise around the table, take turns to ask one question about the card on your head as you try to figure out which emotion you have, you must not however use the actual emotion word. For example you might ask, “Would I feel like this if I won a game of soccer?” “Would I have tears if I felt this way? “Did I feel like this when I fell out of bed?” The other players answer yes or no.
- When a player feels confident that they can identify their emotion, they may take a guess on their turn. The first person to identify their emotion is the winner of that round. The other players can then keep taking turns to ask questions about their emotions card until all emotions have been identified.
Click here to download and print your game cards: Which Emotion Am I? Game Cards. Download or save the PDF to your own computer. Open the PDF and print. When printing, select “Fit to printable area” (or similar) to ensure the page fits with your printer type and local paper size (these have been created at A4 size). For durability, print onto matte photo paper or lightweight cardstock and laminate. Personal, non commercial use only.
See our entire library of big emotions resources here.
Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.
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