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.

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These Super Simple Feelings Management Technique Activity Cards are based on Hope 4 Hurting Kids’ Super Simple Feelings Management Technique to help with emotional understanding and regulation. They are designed to be used with a variety of emotions listings of games (see a partial list above) to help young people master the five skills involved in the  Super Simple Feelings Management Technique:

1. See It!
2. Say It!
3. Feel It!
4. Mimic It!
5. Talk About It!

There are nine cards for each of the five components that will help young people to better recognize, understand and talk about their emotions. The pdf file also includes a set of blank cards if you wish to add your own activities to the pile.

How To Play

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The Emotion Mix Up Game is a fun way to really get kids and young people thinking about emotion by having them imagine what it would look like to have a less obvious emotion in reaction to a particular circumstance. Although it is similar to the Feelings Ball Toss game, it adds a fun twist that will get kids thinking about their emotions and the scenarios that cause them.

Here’s What You Need:

• Last week we looked at the Feelings Ball Toss / Emotions Sorting activity. You’ll use the colored bowls and the balls from that game.
• You will use a set of the Scenario Cards (I Feel) sorted by color. The colors will hopefully match the color of the bowls. If not, you can improvise.

Here’s How To Play:

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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:

1. Send one person out of the room (the guesser).
2. 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.
3. Explain that everyone should act out the emotion (either with or without making sound depending on how you’re playing).
4. 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.

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