Is your child struggling to learn about emotions? Emotions are actually a pragmatic skill often referred to as social skills. Pragmatics are the social rules for language in social interactions. Such interactions include greetings, eye contact, taking turns in conversations, being polite, and the social cues for verbal and nonverbal communication etc. One skill that will be addressed today is EMOTIONS! Learning about emotions can be challenging for some children to comprehend. Here you will find a simple way to teach emotions using basic pictures and some games to go with them!
Using Pictures:
When teaching your child about emotions, use the basic emotions first so they don’t become overwhelmed. Print off some pictures of children expressing specific emotions like happy, sad, angry, tired, and silly. Print multiple copies. Before you start playing games with your child, explain each emotion to your child with a scenario they will comprehend. Once they start to understand, let’s start playing!
Games:
- Memory -Place all the emotion cards upside down (emotion hidden). Each person takes turns flipping over two cards to find a match. While you flip them over identify the emotion. Whoever has the most matches wins!
- Go Fish -Make sure to have multiple copies so there is a match. Play it exactly as the regular game “Go Fish” but using emotions. As they guess for the emotion, see if they can give you an example of what that emotion is.
- Simon Says “Feelings” -Once your child can identify the emotions, play Simon Says. This will allow your child to identify the emotion but also be able to associate the emotion in action!
Please remember that there can be a multitude of ways you can teach emotions. Always consult your Speech Therapist if you have additional questions or concerns about your child’s development.
Happy Playing!
-Chelsea, Speech Therapy Team