Emotion Games for Kids

Three emotion games for kids

Each game asks a child to do something different with a feeling. Charades is about showing it, memory is about spotting it, and bingo is about hearing the word and finding the face. Pick the one that suits the child, or play all three in a session.

• Feelings charades. Draw a secret card, start the timer and act the feeling out with no words. Every card comes with a situation to act and a way to act it, like "use only your face" or "freeze like a statue."
• Feelings memory game. Turn over two cards at a time to find matching faces. Every match opens a short question to answer, so the game doubles as a conversation.
• Feelings bingo. A caller screen picks feelings at random and suggests something to do with each one. Players mark the faces on their cards, on paper or on their own device.

Every feeling a child acts out, matches or hears called is added to a list under the games. At the end, print it as a "Feelings Explorer" certificate with the child's name, or copy the list for your notes.

How to play feelings charades

1. Choose a timer: 30, 60 or 90 seconds, or none.
2. The actor draws a card and peeks at it. Nobody else looks.
3. Press Start acting. The actor shows the feeling with their face and body, and no words.
4. Everyone else guesses out loud. For younger children, press Show guess choices to put four faces on screen to pick from.
5. Reveal the card. Talk about the question on it, then swap so the guesser acts next.

Emotions charades works best when the adult goes first and hams it up. A child who sees you act "frustrated" with your whole body learns that it is safe to be silly here, and that big feelings are allowed. If a child gets stuck, read them the situation on the card and ask, "What would your face do?"

How to play the feelings memory game

1. Choose 6, 8 or 10 pairs, and whether to match a face to a face or a face to its word.
2. Turn over two cards. If they show the same feeling, it is a match.
3. Answer the question that opens, or pass. Then keep playing.
4. If the cards do not match, look at them, then tap any card to turn them back and go again.

With two players, a match earns another turn and a miss passes the turn, as in the card game. Face to word is good practice for early readers, and it asks a child to connect a word they know to how that feeling looks.

How to play feelings bingo

1. Give each player a card. Print them, or open Play a card on a second device.
2. On the caller screen, press Call the first feeling. Read out the feeling and the line under it.
3. Players who have that face mark it. Someone does what the line says, like making the face or telling a story.
4. A full row, column or diagonal is bingo. Check it against the called list.

Feelings bingo is a good fit for groups and classrooms, because everyone plays at once. Younger kids get 3 by 3 cards with big faces. Older kids get 5 by 5 cards with a free square in the middle and thirty feelings to call, so games last longer.

Using emotion games in therapy

• Use them to warm up. A round of memory at the start of a session is low pressure, and the questions often open the topic you were hoping to reach.
• Answer the questions yourself, too. A child shares more after hearing a short, real answer from you.
• Let any player pass, with no reason needed. Choosing not to share is a skill as well.
• Notice which feelings a child acts out easily and which ones they skip or get wrong. That tells you where to go next.
• Link the face to the body. After a reveal, ask "Where would you feel that?" and connect it to a calming skill you are teaching.
• In family sessions, let a parent and child take turns acting and guessing. It is often the first time they have played at feelings together.

Playing over telehealth

1. Open the page before the session and choose Younger kids or Older kids.
2. Share your screen and press Present mode, so the game fills the screen in large print.
3. For charades, either you act while the child guesses, or send the child the link so they can draw their own secret card. If you draw the card, stop sharing for a moment while you peek.
4. For memory, the child calls out which card to turn over, by number or by place, and you tap it.
5. For bingo, send the child the link to Play a card while you run the caller screen.

Choosing the level

The Younger kids setting uses twelve feelings: happy, excited, proud, calm, sad, lonely, angry, frustrated, worried, scared, surprised and tired. It suits children from about 4 to 7. The Older kids setting adds eighteen more, from grateful and hopeful to embarrassed, jealous and numb, for children from about 8 to 12.

Some children find faces hard to read. For them, start with face to word memory and turn on guess choices in charades, so there is less to hold in mind at once. Our feelings chart is a good way to learn the faces before playing.

Why play feelings games?

Children who understand emotions well tend to get along better with other children. A meta-analysis of studies with children and teens found modest but consistent links between understanding emotions and better social skills, and fewer emotional and behavior problems (Trentacosta and Fine, 2010). A game is not therapy on its own, but it gives a child a lot of practice naming, showing and spotting feelings in a short time, and practice is how those skills grow.

If you are a parent and your child's feelings often seem too big to manage, a child therapist can help. Crown Counseling offers therapy for children in Brooklyn and by video.

Printable emotion games (PDF)

The free PDF has four pages: twelve feelings charades cards with a situation to act on each one, twenty-four feelings memory cards (twelve pairs), and two pages of feelings bingo, eight different 3 by 3 cards in all. The charades cards double as calling cards for bingo. For bigger groups, or 5 by 5 cards for older kids, use the Print cards button under Feelings bingo.