Emotions Spoon Race

The Emotions Spoon Race is a fun and active way to help kids to better understand their emotions. It combines all the fun a traditional egg on spoons relay race with an improved emotional vocabulary and awareness. Make sure to check out our video from the first time we played this game at the bottom of this post.

What You’ll Need for the Emotions Spoon Race

• A package of ping-pong balls. We actually used balls which don’t officially qualify as ping-pong balls. They’re a lot cheaper and actually easier to write on. We used white ping-pong balls this time, but I also bought a package of colored ones.
• A bucket or container for the ping-pong balls.
• A listing of emotion words. We selected 68 words to include. A listing of those words is can be found here.
• A fine tip marker to write on the balls.
• Spoons
• Hula Hoops, buckets or something else to collect the balls the racers carry.
• A copy of our Super Simple Feelings Management Technique Activity Cards.

Setting Up the Emotions Spoon Race

• Write the names of various emotions on the ping-pong balls. We chose to include two balls with each emotion.
• Put all of the balls in a bucket on one end of the room.
• Line up the hula hoops (or whatever else you are using on the other end of the room).
• Shuffle the Super Simple Feelings Management Technique Activity Cards (or sort them by color if you wish).

Playing The Emotions Spoon Race

• Give each child a spoon and have them line up by the bucket of ping-pong balls.
• Set a timer.
• The kids must pick up a ball with their spoon (no hands allowed at any point) and carry the ball down to their hula hoop.
• If they touch the ball with their hand at any point or drop it off the spoon, they must pick it up, return the ball to the bucket and pick up a new ball.
• They must drop the ball in the hula hoop. If it bounces or rolls out of the hula hoop, it does not count.
• When time is up, have the children count the balls in their hula hoop. The child with the most emotion balls win. Keep track of all the places.
• Have the child in 1st place randomly keep one ball from their hula hoop, 2nd place keep 2 balls, 3rd place 3 balls, etc.
• Have the child take turns choosing from the balls they kept, picking a card from the
• Super Simple Feelings Management Technique Activity Cards and doing the activity (or answering the question on the card) for the emotion they selected.

Alternative Ways to Play

• If you have a larger group of kids, consider playing in teams. One child picks the ball out of the bucket. They must carry the ball to the hand off point then put the ball into the second players’ spoon without using their hands.
• Tape a line on the floor several feet before the hula hoops. Instead of having the children drop the balls in the hula hoop, they must throw the balls into the hula hoop using their spoons. Any balls that do not land in the hula hoop do not count.
• Read scenarios from the I Feel Scenario Cards. Children must find an emotion in the bucket that matches the scenario and carry that ball to the hula hoop.

For more awesome resources for learning about and dealing with emotions, please visit our Hope 4 Hurting Kids Emotions Help Center.