Emotions

As I was viewing the photos on my camera I came across one of the stone face that the six year old had made at Beavers...

and this made me think about how this idea could be adapted to create a craft activity to help children learn about emotions.

First of all you need a collection of pebbles or stones, then things to decorate them with - as you can see this one uses googly eyes, wool and a bit of pipecleaner but you can use whatever you want - if you wanted you could just use paint or a marker pen to draw on the pebble.

Then make a collection of different faces; happy, sad, scared, surprised, angry - talk about the emotion, what makes people feel that way, or act out scenarios with your pebble people. You could also make an identification game by putting the pebbles in a bag and picking one out - or a matching game matching the pebble to a picture of someone showing an emotion or a scenario.

You can find a range of resources to help children learn about emotions at Littlesheep Learning.

Thomas that Tank Engine Emotions Game

I've just seen a link to a new game based on Thomas the Tank Engine to help children learn emotions so I thought I'd share it. The computer based (free) Emotions Game helps children to identify emotions ranging from happy, sad, angry, surprised or scared has been produced following a strategic partnership between Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) and the popular children’s character Thomas & Friends, owners HIT Entertainment and Australian agent, Haven Licensing, to help increase awareness about autism. The game features five trains in their shed and the child is asked to 'click on the (emotion) train', when they click on the right train the others go back into the shed with the doors closed and you get a round of applause.


In the UK, a survey of parents of children with autism, commissioned by The National Autistic Society (NAS) and HIT Entertainment, demonstrated that many children with autism have a particular love for Thomas the Tank Engine which may be due to the clear facial expressions that make the characters easy to identify. In recognition of this all the royalties from the book How Do you Feel, Thomas? go to the NAS. This book is a lovely way for children to learn about emotions - pull the tab or turn the wheel to find out What makes Thomas the Tank Engine happy? What makes Harold excited?


If you are interested in teaching emotions take a look at the emotions resources at Littlesheep Learning or read our other blog posts.

Teaching Emotions

I've posted before briefly about some ideas for teaching emotions and I am now pleased to announce the arrival at Littlesheep Learning of our Emotions category - starting with three great products that will help making learning about emotions, understanding feelings and recognising expressions easier and more enjoyable.

Firstly, the Mr Face Wall Hanging, this wall hanging is the ideal way to introduce children to emotions, feelings and facial expressions. The detachable pieces make it easy for any child to create their own version of happy, sad and any of a multitude of other expressions on the outline of Mr. Face. This fantastic resource can be used to promote the recognition of expressions and children change the expression to match how they are feeling.

Secondly, the Miss Face Cube, a delightful complimentary resource to the Mr Face Wall Hanging. The Miss Face cube features a different emotion on each side and is great fun for activities and games - a perfect way to discuss emotions and feelings.

And, lastly, the Emotions Teaching Mitt as introduced in our Puppets post earlier this month. A lovely glove puppet that fits onto an adults hand and features the expressions of happy, sad, angry, surprised and worried.

Teaching Emotions

I've just been sent this link, it's about a small project that used cartoons narrated by the actor Stephen Fry to help teach children with autism about facial expressions and emotions. The research is promising and having viewed the sample episode online I can see how it would particularly appeal to some of the vehicular obsessed children I've worked with. The series was commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and are now being given to around 30,000 other families with autistic children between the ages of two and eight. For more information and to get your free copy look at The Transporters. Let me know what you think and if it helps your child by adding your comments below.

Whilst reading that article I remembered some of the other resources I've used with children with autism to look at emotions so I thought I'd post them here...

Thomas the Tank Engine books are great as the trains faces are used to show the expression and the stories can be used to explain why the character feels as they do. How do you feel, Thomas? is a specific emotions book with the royalties being donated to The National Autistic Society. The new Underground Ernie trains might also give another opportunity for studying faces. Pingu cartoon are good too as the lack of language in them means that children need to infer the feelings of the characters from their intonation, volume and their facial expressions / non-verbal communication.

Another fun ways to look at emotions are acting out scenarios using puppets, this helps to cement how people feel in situations - a good activity is making puppets with different facial expressions using wooden spoons.