Shark Bite Feelings

Shark BiteShark Bite was one of the hottest games around this past Christmas. It was flying off the shelves and hard to get your hands on. It also seemed like the perfect game to help kids learn more about emotions. Before you can play though, you’ll have to drop a few buck on your own copy of the game. You can get it through Amazon here.

Playing Shark Bite

Shark Bite is a simple game to set up and to play. You put the fish in the mouth of the shark, then roll the dice and fish out the number of fish shown on the dice. The person who pulls the fish that causes the shark to bite loses, but really everyone wins in the fun game.

Modifying the Game to Play Shark Bite Feelings

One simple modification makes the game a great tool for helping kids to learn about their emotions. For the feelings version of Shark Bite, you simply assign an emotion to each of the 12 fish before putting them in the shark. Whoever pulls the fish that causes the shark to bite in this game has to pick a one card from the Super Simple Feelings Management Technique Activity Card Deck and perform the activity or answer the question on the card for each fish emotion they pulled during the game.

You can make this modification by writing the names of the emotions directly on the fish with a marker. This is a simple technique and doesn’t require much set-up after the first time you write the emotions on the fish. Another alternative is to create a template that includes each fish in the game (you can get our template here or by clicking on the picture of the template). This option allows you to assign different emotions to the fish every time you play the game. Another possibility to make matching the fish with the emotions easier is just to number them 1-12. You can than use either our template or just a blank sheet of paper to assign different emotions to the fish. If you’re having trouble coming up with emotions, use our free Hope 4 Hurting Kids Emotion Cards to randomly assign emotions to the fish.

Video

Here’s a video of a dad and his daughter opening and playing the game so you can get a feel for how it works.

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

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Written by Wayne Stocks
Wayne is the founder and executive director of Hope 4 Hurting Kids. He is a happily married father of four kids with a passion for helping young people who are going through rough times. In addition to Hope 4 Hurting Kids, Wayne previously started I Am A Child of Divorce and Divorce Ministry 4 Kids to help kids who are dealing with the disruption of their parents' relationship. These are now part of Hope 4 Hurting Kids. Wayne speaks frequently at conferences and churches on issues related to helping kids learn to deal with difficult emotions and life in modern families. Wayne lives with his wife, three youngest kids, three dogs and an insane collection of his kids' other pets outside of Columbus, Ohio. In addition to his work with Hope 4 Hurting Kids, Wayne is a partner in a local consulting firm, an avid reader, coaches his son's soccer team and is a proud supporter of Leicester City Football Club (and yes, for those in know, his affinity for the club does predate the 2016 championship). You can reach Wayne at wayne@hope4hurtingkids.com.