Emotion Worksheets

These printables will help student develop and maintain coping skills. There are also additional resources provided.


Teaching Students What Emotions Are

The key to student development is teaching them what emotions are. Besides teaching them key subjects, educators also need to inform students about how to handle emotions. The feeling may be hard to understand for the very young in particular.
Since feelings are so abstract, explaining them to kids may be challenging. However, kids who understand their emotions may be able to better cope with issues like defiance, aggression and tantrums. There is also a better chance of developing into responsible adults who can resolve personal conflicts amicably.


Name Different Emotions

Obviously, you will want to start with simpler emotions like "happy" and "sad" instead of more complicated ones like paranoia or apprehensiveness. One smart way to do this is by reading storybooks. Pause at intervals to explain how various characters feel. Better still, you can ask your students, "what are the feelings of XYZ right now?"


After getting input from your students, you can explain the emotions that characters may be going through. Also, be sure to explain why they are feeling that way. Such an exercise will instill empathy in your students. This is paramount for developing people skills, becoming more popular and getting along with almost everyone.


This will also serve another key purpose. Your students will learn that the emotions of others are just as important as their own. Owing to their innocence, they simply don’t know that others have emotions as well, which is why they might playfully push their best friend to the ground, not knowing that it upsets them.


When kids realize how important the emotions of others are, they will be less prone to bad and antisocial behavior. In other words, they will become better people who care about others.


Let Your Students Talk About Their Emotions

It's simple to get your students to talk about their emotions. Just ask, "how do you feel today?" For young students, you can give them options to choose from. Just present a chart with emoticons and tell them to pick one that best describes their mood. Once they choose the emoticon, you can encourage them to talk more about why they feel that way. To make it easier for your students, you encourage them with simple suggestions. For instance, your students might choose the "happy face". Provide suggestions as to why they are feeling happy. Perhaps it's their favorite class today, like PE, music or art. Or maybe they are happy to come because they can meet their friends. Just give a few hints like these as encouragement for your pupils to begin articulating why they are happy to be in school today.


Conversely, your student might choose the "sad face". You can then inquire about why they feel sad. Perhaps they don’t want to be away from their parents. Tell your student that they will get to meet their parents pretty soon if that is the case. So there is no need to feel sad.


Managing Emotions


Kids need to learn from an early age that controlling emotions is necessary, especially negative ones. A great way to manage emotions (not just for kids, but grown-ups too!) is to discuss your feelings with someone you trust.


So you should explain to students that instead of hitting someone they are angry with, they should talk about their feelings with someone else. Discussing emotions with someone has a soothing effect. Besides calming down your students when they are upset, this method can help them get good advice that just might resolve the situation.


Explain Why

Learning to understand the feelings of others will help your students handle their emotions in a much better way. For example, suppose one of your students feels sad because their friends won't play. Explain to the child that there is no need to be upset. They should ask their friends why they are not playing. Perhaps they are busy, or they might not be feeling well. So it would be a good idea to come back again at a later time when friends are in the mood to play.


Praise Good Behavior

A few nice words of encouragement can go a long way towards helping your students develop a great personality.
For example, you can say, "I really like how you explained that you feel angry."
Tell students that instead of behaving rudely, they should politely explain how they feel if they are upset.


Model Good Behavior

No matter how much you explain to your students, they won't understand fully until you set a good example for them.


Kids indeed learn more by the example set by their elders rather than their explanations.


So if a student fails to do their homework for the third consecutive time, don’t get upset or start threatening them. Instead of threatening to call up their parents, you should calmly ask why they cannot do their homework. Is it because no one is there to help them at home? Or perhaps there is something that is worrying them. How you handle your own students is vital. Don’t raise your voice, lash out or look enraged. If you do that, then your students will think that it is alright to do so.


How you manage your own emotions in class will strongly influence how your students learn to manage theirs, especially when they grow up. Realize that you are a key role model in the lives of your cherished students. Hence, it is imperative that you scrupulously comport yourself in the most responsible way when in front of your students. Teach your students coping techniques like taking deep breaths when feeling upset.


Teaching students what emotions are could be challenging. But it is rewarding. You can bring a major positive change in your students' lives by explaining how they can deal with their emotions.