Have young children learn all about different emotions with these super cute social-emotional learning printables and activities feelings crafts for preschoolers.
When the child feels angry or sad for instance, they want to naturally learn how to recognise their feelings.
And sometimes showing them how to understand other people’s body language is a perfect way and a fun way for young kids to practice social-emotional learning.
Social Emotional Learning
Social-emotional activities are so important to me, I’ve written quite a bit on the topic and I like to make sure that every class I’m introduced to, the children have great exposure and experience with calm down techniques and regulating their emotions.
It’s important for preschoolers to learn about feelings and how to deal with them. They need to learn how to express themselves in a healthy way and what their options are when they feel upset or angry.
A good way of introducing feelings is through activities.
Some great ideas for feeling activities for preschoolers are:
– Giving the children toys that represent different feelings
– Role playing different scenarios that evoke certain emotions
– Teaching the children about facial expressions and what they mean
Best Activities Feelings Crafts for Preschoolers
The activities in this blog post are designed to help preschoolers explore their feelings and emotions.
The goal is to help them recognize and understand the range of emotions they experience, including anger, sadness, happiness, surprise and fear.
This in turn will allow children to recognise different facial expressions.
Teaching Kids about their Own Emotions
I love using Mood Meters to help kids get in the habit of actually stating how they feel each and every day.
Pick up this Mood Meter Printable FREE at this blog post.
Related: Best Printable Feeling Words List PDF for Special Needs Kids
Have you used paper plates recently to create small groups emotions activities in the classroom or at home?
These paper plate crafts will show kids all about big feelings and what to do with them. It’s a great way to depict what a sad face, happy face, angry face and more actually mean. Natural Beach Living did this quite cleverly below.
I have found a great book and a great tool to read to kids to teach them all about feelings. Check out this super best seller on Amazon. A family member gave this to me and I loved reading it to my students in class to help them get familiar with different social situations.
Recognising facial features are one of the most important skills to include while looking for feelings activities.
My social skills SUPER bundle includes a yearly bundle all about body language, noise levels, matching facial expressions and social emotional posters for the classroom. It’s a great addition to your social skills unit in the classroom.
Another great thing about these crafts is that they will help keep temper tantrums at bay with toddlers.
These are some different ways we can help toddlers recognise big emotions and it’s a good reason to start helping them recognise different faces. It’s so much fun with the play dough mats below! They will also have a great time playing with play dough.
Activities Feelings Crafts for Preschoolers
One of my favorite ways to teach all about feelings is to use a printable pack like the play dough emotions pack below.
Grab these mats / printable task cards at the end of this post. These mats can also serve an emotion card game.
Not only do kids get to practice emotions, but they get to work on their fine motor and pincer grasp skills to create each emotion.
This is such a creative way to turn a bad day that a child might be having into a good day – with play dough!
I’m a massive fan of play dough mats. I’ve created a HUGE bundle of them and you can check out some FREE mats over at this post.
Kindergarten children will love replicating each feeling face. You could also create a matching game with these mats.
Have you seen these super cute ‘stone faces’ by Messy Little Monster? They make for a great little craft.
A super easy game to play is to grab an old magazine pictures and start cutting out feelings your child recognises with different emotions.
A great way to create these ‘magazine emotion posters’ is to use construction paper. You can also have the child write about their own feelings if they can on each poster.
Check out these feelings softie emotions toys, they are DIY and super adorable!
I LOVE these empathy dolls from the Craft Train. These are also very easy to create.
Preschool Emotions Printables for Social-emotional Skills
Pretend play is a type of play in which children engage in imaginative make-believe. Pretend play is a form of social and cognitive development where children learn to share, take turns, and cooperate with others. These skills are crucial for later academic success.
Pretending is a great way to develop children’s imagination, creativity, and physical skills.
It also helps them learn how to solve problems and communicate their thoughts and feelings better. A great way to practice skills in their daily lives.
Next time you’re stuck – use pretend play!
Start off with acting out basic feelings as a fun game. These pretend play ideas can be added to any preschool feelings theme.
Check out these super cute shark emotions game by Affordable Homeschooling.
There are many activities that you can do with your child to help them develop pretend play skills:
– Give your child some props like stuffed animals, dolls or cars for them to use during pretend play
– Play along with your child by acting as the other characters in the story or game they are playing
– Act out different emotion themed scenarios.
Grab these printable emoji themed play dough mats below!
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