Week 1 Emotions

I want my daughter to have an aptitude for emotions.  So what can I teach her about emotions that would allow her to identify how she is feeling and some appropriate responses.  Here are things I asked myself:
1. What emotions should I identify?
2. What causes these emotions?
3. What are good ways to express our emotions?

I decided to identify sad, embarrassed, happy, mad/angry, scared, surprised, and bored (I hear that she's bored way too often).

I cut out some circles and drew on faces, I'm no artist.  However, this was simple and effective.  I cut out some extra circles for my toddler to play with while I was teaching.

First, we identified the emotions on the faces.  Second, I gave examples of what might cause us to feel each of the emotions.  Last, we talked about appropriate behavior.  When we are mad it's not okay to hurt others.  When we are bored we should be patient.  When we are scared we can ask for help.  When we are sad it is okay to cry. Then we read My Many Colored Days, by Dr. Seuss.  I really wanted to read The Way I Feel, by Jana Cain (great book!), but the library didn't have it in.

My princess is really into stories right now.  So to wrap up the lesson I told a story about a trip to the park.  All along the way things happened that caused an emotion and I let her choose which emotion it would cause.

• We were riding our bikes to the park. How did that make you feel? Happy
• But we had to wait for our neighbors to catch up to us. How did that make you feel? Bored
• While we were riding, you fell off your bike and scratched your knee. How did that make you feel? Sad
• When we got to the park your friend Isaac was there.  How did that make you feel? Surprised 

Afterwards we made a bar graph for the numbers 1-10.  I needed to step away in the middle and she got a little bored, hence 10 was never finished.

This is the special space we put together for school.  She already loves school.

UPDATE: Here's a link to a story about a Turkey that learns to deal with his temper -- The Turkey with the Terrible Temper.