Making Faces and Using Your Words Activity
Here’s an activity you can do at home to practice using words to name feelings.
Making Faces & Using Your Words
The goal of the game is for one person to make a face that shows a certain emotion. The other person guesses what the emotion is.
Here are some ideas: sad, happy, angry, shy, surprised, afraid.
Directions
The game could start with you saying, “I’m going to make a face, and you guess what I’m feeling by looking at my face.”
When your child guesses the right answer, you might say, “You’re right. Now you try making the same face.”
Follow up by mentioning a time when you remember your child feeling that way.
You could also mention a time when you felt that way and probably showed that face to other people; maybe even your child.
Continue by taking turns, alternating who gets to pick the emotion and show their face first. You can offer suggestions if your child needs help picking a feeling to show. Two feelings that children would find easy to show you would be happy and sad.
End with, “Wow, we sure do have lots of feelings and lots of faces to show other people how we feel.”
At another time, maybe while waiting at the doctor’s offi ce for an appointment, you could pull out a small mirror. You could ask your child to look into the mirror and make a face that shows the feelings of sad, mad, happy, sassy, disappointed, silly, etc. You’re likely to both endup laughing.
When children can use words to describe how they feel, they are less likely to hit, grab, bite, or whine.
Whenever you find it helpful, you can always use the Daniel Tiger strategy song to remind your child: "Use Your Words."
Emotions & Self-Awareness
Social Skills
Character
- Activity Type
- Craft
- Topics