Make a Feelings Face Chart!

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Feelings. They’re often tough to deal with, even for us adults. For kids, it’s an even bigger challenge. Psychotherapist and parent educator, Katie Hurley, recently wrote about feelings in PBS Parents’ Expert Tips and Advice column.

In a piece she penned about avoiding meltdowns, Hurley offered this, “Many children simply don’t know how to make the connection between what they feel and the emotions they display.”

And that makes sense, doesn’t it? Kids don’t have the language to describe what they’re feeling so they rely on nonverbal cues (think screaming, crying, etc). They also lack experience dealing with big feelings. So they may not even know what they’re feeling. It has to be frustrating!

One way to help our kids identify and express their feelings is with a feelings faces chart. A feelings faces chart shows faces in different states of emotion. It can help children explain, and we parents understand, just how they feel when they can’t find the words.

so-many-feelings

For step-by-step directions and tips on how to use the chart, visit PBS.org.

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