Feelings & Emotions Play
A playful social-emotional activity that helps children begin to recognise, name and talk about different feelings. Each soft ball shows a different facial expression, giving children a concrete and approachable way to explore emotions such as happiness, sadness, worry, anger and frustration.
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What do you do:
Spread out the different emotion faces.
Choose one and look carefully at the expression.
Talk about how that person might be feeling.
Copy the expression together.
Ask, “What might make someone feel like this?”
Encourage your child to choose a face that represents how they feel today.
What's Needed:
Emotion face balls
A basket or container
Optional mirror for copying expressions
How to Adapt
For younger toddlers: Focus on a few simple emotions such as happy, sad and angry. Name the feeling, copy the face and keep the conversation playful and simple.
For older children: Explore more complex emotions and discuss situations that might cause them. Encourage children to think about what could help someone when they feel worried, angry or upset.
Make it more open-ended: Use the emotion balls for storytelling and role play. Let your child choose different characters, invent what happened to them and explore.
Benefits of the Activity
Develops emotional literacy
Supports recognition of facial expressions
Builds language and communication
Encourages self-expression
Develops empathy and social awareness
Supports social-emotional development
