Theme "Feelings"

[Anna]

Does anyone have any ideas that go along with the preschool theme "feelings"?

[Diane]

FEELINGS THEME

GENERAL ACTIVITIES

Children are filled with all kinds of feelings-happiness, sadness, anger, excitement, joy and wonder. These feelings can sometimes seem overwhelming and hard to manage and make sense of. Teachers and parents can help young children learn how to share and manage their feelings by being supportive and understanding. By listening, responding, modeling and providing language needed, children learn to understand and express their feelings appropriately. This curriculum will help encourage children to learn how to express, accept and understand how to express him/herself in healthy ways.

OBJECTIVE

To help children better understand their feelings. To encourage children to feel comfortable expressing how they feel as well as learn how to express their feelings in appropriate ways.

AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT

Social/Emotional Development:

Helping young children learn how to manage and express their feeling is vital in the development of positive self-esteem and self image. Children who feel good about themselves tend to treat others with more kindness and respect. Children who are able to manage and understand their own feelings are children who have more positive learning experiences in school.

ACTIVITY:Feeling Fingerprints

Materials
Stamp/Ink Pad
Small Index Cards (cut in half)
Black Pen


Use fingers and print one or more fingerprints on each card. Use a pen to draw different "feeling faces" on each card. Teachers might help children label drawing if desired. Post finger print feeling cards around the classroom.

ACTIVITY:Expression Through Music

Materials
Classical music (an assortment of fast and slow)
Rock music
Nursery rhymes
*Add any of your own, you might choose to include different musical styles from around the world

Play different types of music and invite children to tell you how they feel when hearing it. After children have expressed their feeling through words allow them time to express how the music makes them feel by expressing it with their bodies.

ACTIVITY: Pretending with Feelings

Materials
Magazine's
Photographs
Mirrors


Show children pictures of peoples faces. Talk with children about how they think the people might be feeling. If you can give children faces or in a large mirror have them make their own "feeling" faces. If you don't have enough mirrors have children face each other and copy the face the other child is making. You might even call children up and make a face to the group and have the children in the circle guess how they are feeling.

ACTIVITY: Acting it Out

Materials
Masks
Puppets
Crayons
Markers
Socks
Paper bags


Sometimes children feel uncomfortable exploring their own feeling, but are able to act out their feeling when they are allowed to pretend to be someone, or something else. Pass out masks or have children design their own. Encourage them to draw faces that represent the way their puppet or mask might be feeling. During a large group meeting time have the children act out a story. You might choose to scaffold the action by beginning with a story starter such as: "Once upon a time their was a group of animals that were feeling very very...." After you begin the story starter go around the circle and encourage them to continue it. Children can use their puppets or masks to "act out" their part of the story.

ACTIVITY: Feeling Books

Materials
Crayons
Paper
Magazines
Photographs
Glue
Medium binder rings

Children love books, especially books that they have a hand in making and being a part of! Children also enjoy books where a particular character encounters some of the same situations that he/she is in. By reading books like this children feel like they are not alone and that others share similar problems and feelings. You might choose to read "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." by Judith Viorst. Talk to children about a bad day they may have had. Encourage children to write, draw or dictate a story about their bad day. Bind all pictures into a book and secure it with binder rings. Title the book "Our Terrible Horrible Day Book." Read "Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney. After reading the book encourage children to draw a picture of someone they love then, encourage them to dictate or write how much they love them. Title the book: "I Love You As Much As..."

[Diane]

SONGS about feelings:
Traditional song:

"I've got that hap-py feel-ing here in my heart, here in my heart, here in my heart. I've got that hap-py feel-ing here in my heart, here in my heart to stay." V.2:I've got that happy feeling down in my feet, etc. V.3:I've got that happy feeling here in my hands, etc. V.4:I've got that happy feeling all over me, etc. Try corresponding movements with each verse (marching, clapping, etc.)


Sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Now introduce the spider's neighbors. They include the Happy Little Spider, The Sad Little Spider, Shy, Afraid, Giggly, etc. Sing the words and act out the emotion with your face and voice.


"If your happy and you know it" traditional song For additional verses, change the emotions and actions.

GAMES:


This activity helps children explore and voice their feelings and fears in a safe environment. It also introduces the children to improvisation. You need a big piece of paper, about the same size as the children, a chair and a marker pen. Get the children to sit in a circle. Tell them you are going to draw a little girl/boy ask different children what he/she is wearing, looks like and then give the child a name. Sit the 'child' on the chair by rolling the paper backwards. Tell the children that we are going to pretend that this is your child and that they are all your friends. Tell them that he/she will not eat her dinner, ask your 'friends' what should do? Ask the drawn child the questions that the children ask and give his/her responses to the children. Hopefully the children will grasp that the child is upset. The children can suggest might be wrong and often inadvertently tell you their what upsets them. The children then suggest what the mother and the child can do to get over the problem. This activity is always a success and the children asked me how my little girl was doing weeks later.


~Emotions File Folder Game~

Draw 10 different faces with emotions...happy, sad, mad, silly, worried (big eyes and a little mouth), scared (huge mouth in a horse shoe shape), loving (kissing face), stressed (big eyes and a wormy line for a mouth), tired (drooping eyelids....open mouth), Surprised (big eyes, big open mouth). Make 2 copies of each face. Cut them out. Take one copy of each face and glue them on the inside of a file folder. Glue an envelope to the back of the folder. Place the matching faces into the envelope. The children then can match the different emotions. Bring this game out during an emotions theme. It is a fun and easy matching game for the children.


Feelings/Emotion Game:

I drew some emotion cards. Examples: happy face sad face surprised face mad face

I drew the faces on metal orange juice lids using permanent marker. I will use these as my cards. The drawings are simple circles with simple lines for the mouth etc.

I set out the emotion cards & then ask one child to tell me what emotion card would go with the situation. I read a situation to the child. Here are some situations. You can even ask the children to help with ideas in this area.

Situations: you lost your mittens a goat is eating your shoes you can fly you see a beautiful butterfly you have to do chores before playing with friends you found a bird feather you have a new puppy you fell & skinned your knee you lost your favorite toy you can't find your shoes a space ship landed in your backyard you are fishing in a stream you are swimming in a pool you can't find your special ring you dropped your ice cream scoop off your ice cream cone.

This could be made up for actual shelf work. The children can make up situations or you might be able to find pictures in magazines to use as situations cards.


Paint faces on paper plates:

Cut out round faces and tape on Popsicle sticks to make hand puppets

Make chart with things that make us feel good from magazine cutouts/ things that make me feel bad on the other side.

Weave half a paper plate on to the back of the face plate / cutout feeling pictures and put them inside.

Make stamp patterns ABABABAB with happy and sad face stamps stamps.

Draw faces on Bingo Board, Play bingo game with feeling faces.

FEELINGS snack:

Crackers with Cheese and raisins to make faces and/or Crackers with peanut butter and chocolate chips to make faces Monster mashers ½ cup peanut butter, ½ cup honey. 1 cup dry milk, 1 cup oats, mix and mash!!