Emotion regulation is an important skill that children should develop from an early age. It helps them to recognize and name their feelings and deal with them constructively. However, many parents face the challenge of helping their children to do this. Games can be a wonderful way to help children regulate their emotions in a fun way.

The importance of emotion regulation

Children who learn to regulate their emotions develop into self-confident and balanced adults. They are better able to cope with stress, maintain social relationships and overcome challenges. Without this ability, children can easily become overwhelmed and experience emotional outbursts, which can lead to difficulties at school and in everyday life.

How games can help with emotion regulation

Games provide a safe and enjoyable environment in which children can learn to recognize and control their emotions. They encourage communication, help with stress management and develop empathy. By experiencing emotions through play, children can better understand what is going on inside them and learn to respond appropriately.

Examples of games for emotion regulation

See also my article“Feelings theme week” for school lessons

The emotional memory

Description: This game is played like a traditional memory game, but with cards showing different facial expressions and emotions. Each pair shows the same face with the same emotion. When revealing the cards, discuss with your child which emotions they see and in which situations they have also experienced these emotions themselves. To do this, print out the PDF with the emotion cards in duplicate and stick them onto solid colored or patterned cardboard.

Aim: Your child should find the matching pairs and name the respective emotions.

Benefits: Promotes the ability to recognize and name emotions, as well as memory.

The rage balloon

Description: You and your child imagine that the balloon represents anger. Your child blows up the balloon when they are angry and lets the air out slowly while breathing in and out deeply. You can also talk about what caused the anger and how you can calm down.

Aim: To help your child visualize their anger and calm down by releasing the air in a controlled manner.

Benefits: Reduces tantrums and also improves impulse control.

You can find more ideas on what helps with a strong tantrum here: first aid strategies for dealing with angry people

The emotional clock or emotion barometer

Description: Download the emotional wheel or emotional clock, cut it out – each child gets their own colored arrow (click here for instructions). Or you can make a barometer together with different levels of emotions (e.g. happy, sad, angry). Your child can adjust the pointer according to their current mood and you can discuss together why they are feeling this way and what you can do to improve or maintain their mood.

Aim: To enable your child to recognize and express their current emotional state.

Benefits: Promotes emotional awareness and self-reflection.

The sentiment cards

Description: These cards show realistic illustrations of children expressing different emotions. You can go through the cards and talk about the feelings depicted. Ask your child when they felt similar and how they dealt with it.

Here you will find detailed instructions on the use of sentiment cards:

Aim: To help your child identify and talk about different feelings.

Benefit: Improves emotional communication and understanding of one’s own feelings.

“Fallen down the well” – emotional pantomine

The children sit in a circle and one child sits in the middle of the circle. This child “falls” to the floor and shouts: “Help, I’ve fallen down the well!” The other children ask together: “How deep?” – the child says: “….. meters!” – “Who’s going to save you?” The child in the “well” now thinks of a condition for the rescue that has to do with a certain emotional expression, e.g: “The one who can cry the saddest” or “The one who can laugh the hardest.” – “The one who stomps the ground the most angrily!”

The children around the well pantomime the required emotions and the child in the middle decides who has best fulfilled their task. This child “rescues” the child in the well, takes their place in the middle and also “falls” into the well. The game starts again.

Aim:
The game aims to increase awareness of emotions and the ability to express feelings. By acting out different emotions, the children playfully learn to perceive, name and differentiate between emotions.

Benefits:
“Fallen down the well” promotes children’s emotional intelligence and empathy by allowing them to try out different emotional expressions and observe how their peers react. The pantomime makes it easier to access feelings and supports the understanding of different emotional states. This not only strengthens the children’s emotional awareness, but also their social skills and self-confidence within the group.

Mirror, mirror, what do you feel?

Description:
In the game “Mirror image”, two children face each other. One child begins and pantomimes an emotion, e.g. through facial expressions or gestures. The child opposite imitates this emotion and tries to guess which emotion is meant. The children then swap roles. To support understanding, mirrors can be provided in preparation so that the children can practise what their own faces look like with different emotions.

Aim:
The aim of the game is to promote awareness of emotional expressions and to strengthen the ability to recognize and interpret emotions in themselves and others. By imitating, the children learn to memorize and consciously perceive the facial expressions of emotions.

Benefits:
“Mirror image” trains children’s emotional perception and empathy. They learn to link emotions and facial expressions and thus become more sensitive to “reading” the feelings of others. The exercise helps children to better understand both their own emotions and those of others and is therefore a valuable support for the development of social skills and empathy.

Journaling for children – emotional diary

Description:
The “feelings diary” is a simple but effective method in which children write down, draw or paint every day how they felt and what caused these emotions. In addition to the feelings themselves, they are encouraged to reflect on where and how they felt these emotions in their body – for example, as a tingling sensation in their stomach when they were happy or a tightness in their throat when they were sad. The feelings can be recorded both in words and in pictures, which makes it easier for younger children to express them. (Mom or dad can help with the words).

Aim:
The aim of the feelings diary is to strengthen self-awareness and awareness of emotions. Children learn to recognize, reflect on and express their feelings. Body awareness is also encouraged as they learn to connect emotions with physical sensations.

Benefits:
Keeping an emotional diary supports children in self-reflection and gives them an outlet to consciously perceive and record their emotions. Through daily practice, they develop a deeper understanding of their emotional world and learn to accept and regulate it. The reference to physical sensations also helps them to recognize emotions at an early stage and classify them better, which leads to greater emotional stability and self-confidence.

Tips for implementing the games in everyday life

To successfully integrate the games into everyday life, it is important to play them regularly and adapt them to your child’s individual needs. Here are a few tips:

• Everyday integration: Use everyday situations to apply the games, e.g. after school or before going to bed.
• Regularity: Play the games regularly to establish a routine and consolidate your skills.
• Adaptations: Adapt the games to your child’s age and specific needs. Younger children may need simpler explanations and less complex games.

Emotion regulation is an important skill that children should learn from an early age. Games offer an effective and fun way to develop this skill. By playing games regularly and integrating them into everyday life, you can help your child to become more emotionally balanced and self-confident.

Parents report: Getting in touch

Have you already had experience with these or similar games? Leave a comment and share your tips and stories! For more information and resources on emotion regulation and psychological help for children, visit our other articles and links.