Teaching Kids About Feelings Through Play: How to Use the Feeling Face Game to Build Emotional Awareness
If you’ve ever asked your child, “What’s wrong?” and heard “I don’t know,” you’re not alone. Helping kids understand and express their emotions can feel like a puzzle—especially when they shut down, act out, or don’t have the words.
But here’s the good news: kids don’t need long lectures or complicated charts to learn about feelings. They just need play.
Enter the Feeling Face Game—a fun, hands-on activity that makes it easier for kids of all ages to see, talk about, and understand emotions. Whether your child is 4 or 10, this simple game opens the door to emotional awareness, empathy, and connection.
Why Play Is So Powerful for Teaching Emotions
Children learn best through play—it’s how they explore the world, make sense of their experiences, and practice important skills in a low-pressure way. When it comes to emotional learning, playful activities like the Feeling Face Game give kids the chance to:
• Experiment with different emotional expressions
• Learn what feelings look like on the outside and feel like on the inside
• Build vocabulary for their emotions
• Practice empathy by imagining how others might feel
Play removes the pressure and creates a safe space for learning. It turns “Let’s talk about feelings” (which might make a child roll their eyes or shut down) into “Let’s make silly faces together!”—and that’s where the magic happens.
What Is the Feeling Face Game?
This game invites kids to build faces using different eyes, mouths, and eyebrows—mixing and matching until they create an expression that shows a feeling. You can guide them to guess the feeling, create specific emotions, or even act out a scenario. It’s fun, interactive, and perfect for sparking conversations about emotions.
4 Ways to Use the Feeling Face Game with Kids
1. Build a Feeling Face, Then Guess the Emotion
Let your child create a face with the pieces and guess what feeling it shows. Take turns building different emotions and naming them.
Parenting Script:
“Oh wow, that face looks really tense. Look at those eyebrows—do you think they might be mad or worried?”
“Hmm, this one has big eyes and a wide mouth. What do you think—excited or surprised?”
2. Match the Feeling Face to a Real-Life Situation
After building a face, ask your child to think of a time they felt that way.
Parenting Script:
“Can you think of a time when you felt like this face? What happened?”
“I wonder if anyone at school looked like this today—what do you think they were feeling?”
3. Talk About Body Clues
Pair each feeling face with a conversation about how that emotion feels in the body.
Parenting Script:
“When I feel nervous like this face, my stomach feels fluttery. What does your body feel like when you’re nervous?”
“That angry face looks so tight. Where do you feel anger in your body?”
4. Create a Story with Feeling Faces (Great for Older Kids)
Have your child build a few faces and create a story around them. This builds emotional understanding and storytelling skills.
Parenting Script:
“Let’s say this character felt left out. What happened before and after? How did they deal with the feeling?”
“If this person was feeling frustrated, what could they do to calm down?”
Tailoring the Game to Different Ages
Younger Kids (Ages 3–6):
• Focus on naming basic emotions: happy, sad, mad, scared, surprised
• Keep it light and playful—use silly voices or act out the feelings
• Use real-life comparisons: “Remember when your block tower fell? Which face matches how you felt?”
Older Kids (Ages 7–10):
• Talk about more complex emotions like embarrassed, confused, left out, or proud
• Use it as a tool to reflect on their day or current struggles
• Encourage empathy by asking, “How do you think your friend felt in that situation?”
Final Thoughts: You Don’t Need to Be an Expert
The Feeling Face Game makes emotional learning approachable, playful, and impactful. Whether you’re helping your child recover from a meltdown or preparing them for a big transition, this game can be a bridge to deeper conversations and stronger emotional skills.
Grab your Feeling Face Game here!
