Published April 17, 2025 Written by [email protected]

Early years activity: Naming emotions

The ability to identify and name emotions supports children to develop their self-regulation skills and build strong social relationships and a positive sense of themselves.

Learning aims

Identify and name a range of emotions
Develop vocabulary
Develop a positive sense of self.

Resources you will need

Quiet, comfortable space
Mirrors (optional)
The Colour Monster Book (optional).

Naming emotions activity guide

Sit with the children and introduce the activity by talking about how you feel e.g. “I feel happy because …”. Ask children, “How do you feel? What makes you feel that way?”
Talk about the different feelings children identify. Ask children about other feelings they may have
Use your own facial expressions to demonstrate the different emotions and encourage children to do the same. Give each child a mirror and ask them to look in the mirror as they make a happy/sad/angry etc. face. Choose a range of emotions for them to practice
Explain that you are going to play a guessing game, and that you will make a ‘feelings face’ and they must try to guess what you are feeling. Pull a range of faces for the children to guess, e.g. happy/sad/surprised
Invite the children to take turns to pull a ‘feelings face’ for other children to guess
Take photos of the children making different faces for each feeling and create child height feelings display.

How you can extend this naming emotions activity

Read ‘The Colour Monster’ story book to the children and talk about all the feelings the colour monster feels and the colours aligned to each feeling.

NDNA products to support you with this activity

Developing Self-Regulation, Supporting Well-Being – Live virtual classroom
Developing Self-Regulation, Supporting Well-Being – Face to face training

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Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.

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