Emotion Stories — Feelings Activity Kit (K–1)
Children often meet a feeling in a story before they can name it in themselves.
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About this resource
Children often meet a feeling in a story before they can name it in themselves. Emotion Stories is a feelings SEL activity kit for kindergarten and Grades K–1 that pairs your favorite picture book with emotion cards, drawing and a charades game. It builds emotional awareness and the beginnings of empathy, linking Self-Awareness and Social Awareness.
What students practice
- Naming happy, sad, angry and surprised
- Spotting a character’s feeling in a story
- Drawing a time they felt a feeling
- Acting a feeling out with face and body
- Thinking about how to help a friend
What’s inside
- A teacher script with timed steps and a flexible outline (picture book not included)
- Emotion Cards: picture cards with a face and the feeling word
- A Drawing Template: draw your emotion, then say what it is and why you felt it
- A Story Reflection Worksheet (three questions plus a space to draw) and an Emotion Journal Page for daily check-ins
- 12 Emotion Charades Cards, from happiness and fear to love and confusion; 21 pages in all
A look inside
- Teacher script: “If someone feels sad, how can we help them?”
- Emotion Journal Page: “Emotion of the day”, “What happened today?” and “How I felt”
- Emotion Charades Cards: 12 feelings, including pride, curiosity, disappointment and shyness
How to use this emotion stories feelings kit
- Start in a circle with the Emotion Cards, modeling each feeling with big facial expressions
- Pause during the read-aloud to ask how a character feels and whether students have felt that way
- Children draw a time they felt a feeling while you ask about their pictures
- Close with sharing and a talk about empathy, then add the worksheet, journal page and charades on later days
Grade fit
The picture-book read-aloud, drawing and charades suit kindergarten and first grade. It is one of the SEL activities that connects reading with feelings and emotions activities such as drawing and charades.
Good to know
Bring your own picture book where characters feel different emotions.
Pairs well with
Start with Emotion Faces, or go deeper into acting with Story Time Role-Play.
Questions teachers ask
Is a picture book included?
No. Use any picture book from your shelf where characters feel different emotions.
How long does the main lesson take?
About 30 minutes.
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