Four to six simple emotion pictures, homemade faces or drawings. You can also use your own facial expressions without cards.
What to Say
“Can you find a face that looks happy, sad, angry or worried?”
“What do you notice about the eyes or mouth?”
“Have you ever felt something a little like this?”
“You can point if you do not want to talk.”
What to Do
STEP 1 Choose only a few familiar emotion faces.
STEP 2 Place them where everyone can see them.
STEP 3 Take turns choosing or copying one expression.
STEP 4 Name the feeling if the child wants to, while accepting other words and interpretations.
STEP 5 Finish by choosing a face that matches how each person feels now – or by choosing none.
JOIN YOUR CHILD Choose your own card and share a short, age-appropriate example: “I felt excited when we started the game.” Keep the exchange mutual rather than questioning the child.
One-Minute Version
Show two emotion faces and ask: “Which one is closer to how you feel now – or neither?” Accept pointing or no answer.
If Your Child Does Not Want to Participate
Do not quiz your child or demand personal stories. Let them sort by colour, imitate a face, invent a character or end the activity.
Make It Your Own
Use photos, drawings, mirrors or faces from a storybook.
Replace emotion labels with simple descriptions such as “big feeling” or “quiet feeling”.
For more than one child, cooperate to find expressions rather than competing.
Include “not sure” and “something else” as valid responses.
Your child may study facial features, use new feeling words, connect a face to an experience or correct your interpretation. Their own meaning should take priority.
Avoid asking the child to disclose upsetting experiences. Do not label the child as an emotion (“You are angry”); instead, use tentative language such as “I wonder if you might be feeling angry.”
Emotional Bingo, adapted from the LITTLE MINDS, BIG FOCUS Teacher Training Materials and Activity Collection.
