100 Ideas for Primary Teachers by Tammie Prince

Author:Tammie Prince
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

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IDEA 50

Emotions card games

‘I am impressed by how quickly the children have begun to understand the different emotions and support each other with their emotions.’

Using emotion cards and games will support the mindfulness development of emotional intelligence by getting children to recognise their emotions.

Many children do not understand and/or display appropriate emotions in themselves or identify appropriate emotions in others. The misunderstanding of facial expressions, body language, verbal intonations and reactions can lead to inappropriate responses, such as arguments, upset and sometimes physical altercations.

You will need to create flashcards using real pictures of people’s faces displaying a variety of emotions. The pictures can be some that you have copied from other sources or they can be made with the children in your class. It is important that the faces are real. Put the name of the emotion underneath the picture.

Emotional charades:

Shuffle the cards and lay them face down. The first player picks a card and does not show it to anyone else. They should then mimic the face they see on the card while using other non-verbal and verbal reactions, WITHOUT saying the emotion. The other players guess the emotion. The winner gets to select the next card.

‘The bin busted’ storytelling:

Shuffle the cards and lay them face down. The first player selects a card and begins to tell a story that incorporates the emotion on the card, building the beginning of the story narrative. After about a minute, they stop the development of the story by saying, ‘and the bin busted’. This signals the next player to collect a card and continue the story, ensuring the inclusion of the emotion on the card in the narrative. Again, after a minute, they will say, ‘and the bin busted’. The story continues to develop in this fashion, with an emphasis of bringing it to a conclusion with the last player. Remind children that they must always include the emotion of their card while also considering the development of the story: the beginning, middle and end. This will require lots of mindful listening and being in the present moment, as their minds will want to fast-forward to the future to decide what they will be saying for their part.

I can explain:

Shuffle the cards and lay them face down. Each player will take it in turns to select a card. Without showing the card to the others and without saying what emotion is on the card, they are to explain to the other children what emotion card they are holding. The first child to guess the correct emotion gets the card. After all the cards are explained, the player with the most cards wins the game. This game is best played in groups of three to five.

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