The Color Wheel of Emotions provides kids and teens an artistic outlet for exploring their emotions. It also provides a golden opportunity to talk about those emotions with them. Although a simple exercise, the Color Wheel of Emotion hits on most of the aspects of the The Super Simple Feelings Management Technique – particularly the “Talk About It!” component. And, the best part is, you don’t even have to be a good artist to do it. The color wheel above was done by my (at the time) 13 year old daughter Lyndsey.

Supplies

• White piece of paper or poster board.
• Colored pencils, crayons or markers.

How to Make a Color Wheel of Emotions

1. Have the child draw a circle on a piece of paper or poster board.
2. Have them divide the circle into eight (roughly) equal slices by drawing a + and an x on the circle.
3. Ask the child what eight emotions they would like to put on their Color Wheel. Feel free to assist the child in coming up with the emotions. However, you should avoid choosing emotions for them.
4. Write the name, or have the child write the name, of each of the emotions outside the circle on each slice.
5. Have the child fill the slice with a color, or color a picture or representation of each emotion in the corresponding slice.
6. Talk to the child about why they chose the emotions they did for the chart.
7. Discuss what they drew and how they chose to represent each emotion in the circle.

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Over the last couple of weeks, we have looked at Lazy 8 Breathing and Triangle Breathing as effective tools for beginning to teach kids about deep breathing. Deep breathing is a key skill to have in the Please Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff coping skills toolbox. The Breathing Sphere can be used along with the techniques from either method to further reinforce breathing skills in kids.

How Does the Breathing Sphere Work

This activity may require spending some cash if you don’t have a sphere lying around, but we found it to be a very effective tool in helping kids to visualize their stomach expanding and contracting as they engage in deep breathing. They come in all sizes from a small one that expands from 5.5 to 12 inches, a large sphere that expands from 9.5 to 30 inches to this super large one that expands up to 4.5 feet. Obviously, the bigger you go the more expensive they get. I won the one shown above on a family vacation to Gatlinburg a few years back.

The idea is simple. Have the child hold the sphere. As they breathe in, they should expand the sphere. Have them hold the sphere open as they hold their breath, then have them slowly contract the ball as they breath out slowly through their mouth.

It’s a simple exercise but a great visual reminder that deep breathing can be a great coping mechanism.

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