How to playfully promote the handling of emotions with emotion cards

Would you like to get to know games and methods for emotion cards that help your children to learn how to deal with their emotions in a playful way? Do you sometimes find it difficult to talk to children about their emotions or would you like a tool to help you deal with conflicts? Then you’ve come to the right place!

In this article, you will learn how you can use the emotion cards effectively in various situations – whether in everyday life, for emotional support or in challenging moments. You can use the cards not only to promote your children’s emotional development, but also to facilitate conversations about feelings. Whether in the morning circle, when settling disputes or as an aid in difficult conversations – the emotion cards can be used in a variety of ways.

Discover how you can best use the cards by trying them out for yourself and experiencing how they can help you in different situations. Let’s go! In this article, we will show you various ideas and instructions on how to use the sentiment cards so that you can integrate them into your everyday life in the best possible way.

Emotion cards – How to use them

Spread out the emotion cards in front of you and look at them together. Take time to explore the different cards with your child.

• Are there any cards that you particularly like or that you like straight away?
• Are there perhaps cards that you don’t like at all or that you find a little unpleasant?
• Do some of the images remind you of situations that you have already experienced?
• Or perhaps people you have seen in similar emotional situations?
• You could also try grouping the cards: which children have more negative emotions? Which children are doing really well?

This is precisely the special value of the cards: they make feelings visible and have an effect on us. The cards that particularly catch your eye often relate to your own experiences and adventures. Use this opportunity to start a conversation and talk about your impressions together. In this way, you will playfully learn how to deal with emotions and find out how differently feelings can be experienced.

Working with emotion cards gives children access to their emotions in a playful way. The cards help to achieve two things: they awaken memories of personal experiences and at the same time encourage children to come to terms with their own current feelings. To encourage this process, it is important to give the children space to express their thoughts and feelings freely. Let them speak without intervening immediately – that way they will find their own way to understand and use the cards.

A good way to start a conversation is to ask:
“What does this card mean to you?”
If the child cannot answer this directly, try an alternative question such as:
“How do you think the child on the card is feeling right now?”
This helps the children to empathize with the emotions depicted and to better formulate their own thoughts and feelings. These own words are often much more valuable than predetermined explanations, because they encourage personal engagement with the cards and the feelings depicted.

Encourage the children to share their ideas and associations freely. Each picture can be interpreted in different ways – and that’s what makes the exchange so exciting. In this way, children learn that there are many different perspectives on one and the same feeling, which strengthens their understanding of the diversity of human emotions.

Game ideas for working with sentiment cards

“Telling a story about the card” – Faces Feelings Stories

This game is a good way to introduce the topic of feelings to small groups in a fun and humorous way. It gives the children the opportunity to dare to speak in front of the group and share their thoughts and experiences.

Preparation: All the emotion cards are laid out face up. Each child chooses a card without the others being able to see which card they have drawn.

Procedure:

1. The educator begins and tells a short story about their own card by describing what the depicted figure may have just experienced or is experiencing.
2. He then invites the children to take it in turns to tell their own stories.
3. Each child gives their child a name on the feelings card and thinks about what this child is going through or has just experienced.

Example for inspiration:

• Lea is happy because she loves going for walks.
• Tim is sad because his brother doesn’t want to play with him.

In the course of the game, the children realize that they can often incorporate stories from their everyday lives into the stories. At the beginning, the children should always be free to participate. If a child feels unsure, the teacher can support them by sitting with them and thinking together about what the child might experience on the map.

Movement game “Dance of emotions”

This movement game invites children to express themselves creatively and put themselves in different emotions. By combining music and movement, they experience how feelings can be expressed through the body.

Preparation: Various emotion cards are laid out face up so that the children can choose a card. The teacher selects suitable music.

Procedure:

1. The teacher plays the selected music and asks the children to choose an emotion card that matches the music (e.g. happy music for joy, soft music for calm, fast music for excitement). Alternative: relatively varied music that does not automatically reflect just one emotion.
2. Each child chooses a card and thinks about how the figure on the card would move. The children imagine that they are the figure on the card and dance according to the emotion it shows.
3. The children dance through the room, freely and according to their mood, letting the feeling of their card flow into their movements.
4. After the dance, the children can take it in turns to tell what emotion they portrayed and how they felt.

Examples of implementation:

• Konni dances to the cheerful music and jumps for joy because he has drawn a card with a smiling face.
• Karla chooses a “thoughtful” card and moves slowly and quietly to the soft music.
• Anna has an “angry” card and stomps energetically to the fast, powerful music.

Notes: By combining music, movement and emotions, the children experience feelings holistically and learn to express their emotions through their bodies. The teacher can encourage the children to try out unusual movements that match the emotions on their cards.

Same wish, different feeling – sensitively asking for something

This game is a wonderful way to show children in a playful way how different feelings can be expressed. They learn to recognize and name their emotions by slipping into different roles and expressing emotions through body language and words.

Preparation: A box with various small toys or cuddly toys is placed in the middle. Each child draws an emotion card and keeps it for themselves.

Procedure:

1. The teacher demonstrates how to do it: she draws an emotion card and chooses a toy from the box to act out a little scene. She asks for a toy with the emotion on the card.
   • For example: “I am very sad and need something to comfort me. Please give me a toy.”
   • Or: “I’m feeling silly today, look at my funny grimace! Would you like to give me a toy for it?”
2. Then it’s the children’s turn: each child acts out the feeling on their card in turn and uses this expression to ask for a toy from the box.
   • This can be sad, happy, angry, shy or silly – depending on which emotion is depicted on the card.
   • The other children observe and try to recognize which emotion is being portrayed.

Examples of implementation:

• Lea draws a “sad” card and says: “Please give me a toy, I’m so sad and need something to cuddle.”
• Tim draws a “silly” card, makes funny faces and says with a laugh: “Because I make you laugh, maybe I can have a toy?”
• Anna draws an “anxious” card and hesitantly asks: “I’m so anxious. Maybe a little toy will help me feel better.”

Tips: The game helps the children to express their feelings in a safe environment and to explore how emotions affect others. Reacting to the feelings of other children also promotes empathy and social interaction. At the beginning, the teacher can provide support by naming the feelings on the cards and thinking together with the children about how they can be expressed.

Principles for working with sentiment cards

• Be attentive to everything the child says. Appreciate it and respond non-judgmentally, e.g: “Oh, that’s how you feel” or “Thank you for saying that.”
• Work with the attitude: “Conflicts are allowed.”
• There is no “right” or “wrong.”
• Let the children decide freely which role they want to play.
• Register every little sign that a child wants to speak and encourage them to do so. If they are reluctant, support them gently, e.g. by standing behind them or speaking for them until they are ready.
• Appreciate the smallest progress and the slightest confidence, e.g. when the child speaks up, even if it does not yet dare to take the next step.
• Respectfully accept the children’s different approaches, whether they are “bold” or “reserved.”
• Take an active part as an educator and also show your own feelings.