Leave the Room is a fun game to play with kids and teens to help them better understand their emotions, and it’s simple to set up and play. You can play it in a one-on-one situation, but it’s most fun in a small group.
Here’s how it works:
- Send one person out of the room (the guesser).
- Pick an emotion and let the remaining kids (and adults) in the room know what the emotion is. You may need to help younger kids who aren’t familiar with the emotion you’ve selected.
- Explain that everyone should act out the emotion (either with or without making sound depending on how you’re playing).
- Have the guesser come back in the room and try to guess the emotion.
For a fun variation, tell the people acting out the emotion that they can only use their face.
To pick feelings, you can make your own cards similar to the ones we use for Emotions Jenga, or we sometimes use a wonderful set of Emotion Cards from Jim Borgman when we play (pictured above). For an impromptu game, or if you don’t have cards made, you can use a listing of feelings (like the index in My Feelings Workbook) or simply assign feelings.
This game fits nicely into our Jump In! Stand Strong! Rise Up! plan for emotional regulation and healing and can be used as a See It, Say It, Mimic It and Talk About It activity for the Jump In stage of emotional regulation.
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