Feelings, especially big feelings, are an important part of every day life—especially when you’re little and still figuring them out. This unit will discuss some of the feelings that we all experience all the time, like frustration, happiness, gratitude, and kindness. Some of the books we have selected are classics, while others will add beautifully to your home library and be used for years to come. All of the books and activities in this unit are intended to build on your child’s emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills while encouraging important conversations that will benefit your family for years to come. Want to track your progress? Click here to print our downloadable skills tracker for your records.
Note: Occasionally we include project upgrades (for kids ready for more) and modifications (which can be useful for including younger siblings). We’ll mark those with the plus (+) or minus (-) symbols.
What you need:
Books (find at your local library or order below on Amazon):
- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst (or read it here on OpenLibrary)
- Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller
- Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud
Optional extra reading:
- The Boy with Big, Big Feelings by Britney Winn Lee (or read it here on GetEpic.com)
- Talk About the Monster by Mistofer Christopher (This playful book is about a little girl who conquers her fear by facing and understanding it. She learns to describe her fear with words to begin the healing process. It teaches and encourages children to discuss their fears and feelings or anything that cause discomfort. It is ideal for kids who are experiencing health issues, a natural disaster, family trauma, or anxiety. We haven’t created any activities for this book in our unit, but it’s a great book for families to keep in their library for when the need arises.)
Supplies (use what you have, but here are links to shop if you need anything):
- paper + access to a printer (don’t have one? we like this model)
- laminator + laminator sheets (optional, but recommended for repeating lessons)
- markers
- glue stick
- jumbo craft sticks
- construction paper
- crayons, colored pencils, or other drawing materials
What to do:
We recommend doing the below lessons in this order to build on each skill your child will develop, but don’t feel that you *need* to do them in this order. Do what works for you and your child. If they love an activity, feel free to repeat! Not a winner? Skip and try the next thing. Have fun!
Letter of the week: Review!
We aren’t doing a new Letter of the Week in this unit, so we encourage you to use this week to review your phonics book with your child instead.
Lesson 1:
Not all big feelings are fun. But sometimes it’s the bad (the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad) feelings that can teach us the most important lessons. In today’s activities, you’ll help your child work through some of these feelings in a meaningful way. Start by reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. (For additional information and activities on identifying and discussing feelings with preschool children, check out this article.)
Activity 1: Start a conversation about bad days. The story follows Alexander on his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and helps kids identify with what makes people feel badly. Start by asking your child is they can identify what made Alexander have a bad day. This story can be the springboard for great conversations that help your child identify their own grumpiness triggers. Try to lead the conversation to what Alexander could have done differently to help his day go a bit smoother.
(+) This Cause + Effect activity is a perfect upgrade for Activity 1. To work on it, you and your older child will chart the cause and effects using a visual aid. Charting out the cause and effect from our story is an open ended activity that helps to develop reading comprehension and critical thinking. Guide your child to make the connections between the cause and effect of the characters feelings. You will do the writing for your child’s thoughts, allowing them to really engage with their critical thinking skills and not worry about the writing (which is another skill all together).
Activity 2: Play Emotions Bingo with your child to help identify different feelings. Print the game cards (pages 1) and as many bingo sheets as you need for yourself and child(ren) on pages 2-4. (One bingo sheet per person, including you.) Use this activity to not only label these feelings but also to discuss coping mechanisms. For more coping support, you may also wish to print this poster to hang in your school area.
(-) Need a modification for a younger child? Sing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” together. Be sure to act out the movements!
Activity 3: Emotions, Guess Who? Print these emotions cards and play a variation of Guess Who? the game.
To play:
- After you print and cut your cards, shuffle the emotions cards and place them on a stack face down in the middle of the table.
- Each player selects a card from the stack and tucks it into either an elastic headband, a folded bandana or Hedbanz, if you own the game. Be sure to face the card facing out so other players can see the face of the card. Now everyone can see which emotion each player has, except their own.
- Take turns asking one question about the card on your head as you try to figure out which emotion you have. You must not use the actual emotion word. For example you might ask, “Would I feel like this if I won a game of baseball?” “Would I have tears if I felt this way? “Did I feel like this when I fell down at the playground?” The other players answer yes or no.
- When a player feels confident that they can identify their emotion, they may take a guess on their turn. The first person to identify their emotion is the winner of that round. The other players can then keep taking turns to ask questions about their emotions card until all emotions have been identified.
Lesson 2:
Start your day by reading Be Kind.
***For more tips on how to turn a book into a lesson, click here.
Activity 1: Let’s tack a kindness challenge! Print this chart and encourage your child to check off as many items as they can this week. If they have their own ideas for how to show kindness, use the second page to let them create their own chart.
Activity 2: It’s your child’s turn to give a gift with this craft. Adapt this craft to your child’s ability and make one for each member of the family. You should write for your child (if they aren’t writing freely) the qualities they are highlighting.
Lesson 3:
Read Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? This book will guide your conversations for the next few days. Use it as a springboard to talk about “your family’s bucket” and how we can impact it. Our activities will focus on how gratitude is one way to fill our own buckets and that of others.
Activity 1: Sometimes young children can have a hard time pinpointing what they’re grateful for. Bring this concept to life with this gratitude checklist! After printing, encourage your child to spend some time checking off each item.
(+) To upgrade this activity, have your child write or draw the thing they are grateful for next to each line.
Activity 2: Write thank-you cards. These easy-to-print thank-you cards can be given to family members, essential workers, your local postal worker, or anyone you want to show gratitude and appreciation to. (We recommend printing onto white cardstock or other thicker paper.) If your child is able to write on their own, let them! If your child isn’t ready to write on their own, ask them what they think the card should say, then be their scribe and write their ideas. Have them watch you as you pen their words. Then, have them sign their own name.
(-) If they can’t write on their own, make dash lines to form the letters of your child’s name and have your child trace them.
(+) If your child does know how to write but has difficulty putting sentences together, use this opportunity to do some meaningful copywork. To do this, you model and write down the sentence first on a scrap paper and allow them to copy it onto the card itself. (For tips on copywork, read this article on our blog.)
Pro tip: Use a ruler and a pencil to make lines for your child to use as guides. If you make the lines light enough, you can always erase them later.
Lesson 4:
Some of life’s biggest emotions can make us scream! Today, we will take a closer look at The Scream by Edvard Munch. (If you have purchased the Usborne book The Children’s Book of Art, it’s on pages 36, 37. If not, you can find it here.)
Activity 1: The artist draws himself screaming in this picture. This children’s art teacher gives a few details you can share with your child about the artist and his style. Here are some question prompts you can use to encourage your child to think critically about the painting:
- What else he sees in this picture besides the person?
- What is in the background?
- How does this painting make you feel?
- Do you see the dark colors? What those are trying to tell us?
- What do you think made the man so scared?
- Do the two men walking away add to the man’s fears?
Activity 2: Print out this rendition of Munch’s painting for your child to color in with their favorite art materials.
Lesson 5:
We’re closing our week with happiness and music! Music can make us feel all sorts of emotions. Today, let’s listen to some happy music.
Activity 1: Remember the Bucket book from a couple of days ago? Our bucket gets filled by doing things we enjoy, and this song is a beautiful illustration of someone who finds happiness with one of life’s simple joys—snow. Share the classic song by Dean Martin, Walking in A Winter Wonderland with your kids. (And feel free to act it out!)
(+) Want to add an additional musical element to this lesson? Try clapping the chorus rhythm each time it repeats. Read this article for more tips from our expert contributor on teaching music at home.
Activity 2: Snowman craft. This project is a great opportunity to practice those fine motor skills by cutting and pasting paper. (-)Talk about colors and shapes if you are still working on these labels.
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