Interactive & Play-based Activities
3-7 years
1. Feelings Faces Matching Game
This game involves matching pictures of faces showing different emotions (happy, sad, angry, scared).
It helps children recognise facial expressions and start naming emotions, building emotional understanding and vocabulary.
2. Draw Your Mood with Colours
Children choose colours to represent how they feel and draw a picture to match.
This helps them express emotions in a safe, creative way, especially when they don’t have the words yet.
3. Bubble Breathing
Children pretend to blow bubbles slowly, taking deep breaths in and out to make “big bubbles.”
It teaches calming breath control and helps them feel calmer when they are upset or overwhelmed.
4. Stuffed-Animal Calming Cuddle
Children hug or cuddle their favourite stuffed toy while taking slow, deep breaths.
This activity provides comfort and helps them regulate emotions through gentle touch and grounding.
5. Emotion Charades
Children act out a feeling without words while others guess the emotion.
This helps children understand emotions through movement and builds empathy and emotional awareness.
6. Storytime: “How Did the Character Feel?”
After reading a story, children talk about how the character might be feeling and why.
This helps them practice identifying emotions in others and understanding different perspectives.
7. Calm-Down Glitter Jar
Children shake a jar filled with glitter and watch it slowly settle.
This visual activity helps them calm down by giving their brain a moment to slow and reset.
8. Animal Stretch Movements
Children stretch and move like different animals (e.g., “stretch like a cat,” “hop like a frog”).
This helps them release energy, improve body awareness, and regulate emotions through movement.
9. “What Makes Me Happy?” Drawing
Children draw things that make them feel happy, like family, pets, or favourite activities.
This encourages positive thinking and helps children recognise what brings them joy and comfort.
10. Name the Feeling Song
Children sing a song that names different emotions and actions (happy, sad, angry, calm).
It helps them learn emotional vocabulary in a fun, musical way and supports emotional understanding.
11. Safe Place Imagination Game
Children close their eyes and imagine a safe, happy place where they feel calm and protected.
This helps them learn a mental “go-to” space for comfort when they feel anxious or upset.
12. Blowing Pinwheels for Breathing
Children blow on a pinwheel to make it spin slowly, practising gentle breathing.
This teaches slow, controlled breaths and helps calm the nervous system in a fun way.
13. Feelings Bingo
Children play bingo using emotion pictures instead of numbers.
It helps them recognise and name feelings while practising listening and attention skills.
14. Colour-the-Emotion Worksheet
Children colour in pictures that match different emotions (e.g., blue for sad, yellow for happy).
This helps them connect feelings with colours and improves emotional understanding.
15. Quiet Listening Game (Name the Sounds)
Children sit quietly and listen for different sounds (birds, footsteps, clock ticking) and name them.
This game improves focus, calmness, and helps children become more aware of their surroundings.
16. Magic Breathing Wand
Children wave a wand while breathing in and out slowly, as if casting a calming spell.
This makes breathing practice fun and helps children learn to calm themselves using breath.
17. Body Scan with a Teddy
Children lie down with a teddy and “scan” their body from head to toes, noticing any tightness.
This helps them become aware of their body and relax tense areas, supporting emotional regulation.
18. Draw Your Family
Children draw their family members and talk about how each person makes them feel.
This activity supports emotional connection, belonging, and recognising positive relationships.
19. Kindness Sticker Challenge
Children earn stickers for doing kind actions, like sharing or helping a friend.
This encourages empathy and helps children feel good about caring for others.
20. Freeze Dance for Focus
Children dance to music and freeze when the music stops.
This helps them practise self-control, listening skills, and improves focus in a playful way.
21. Emotion Sorting Cards
Children sort cards into categories like “happy,” “sad,” “angry,” and “calm.”
This helps them recognise different emotions and build emotional vocabulary through hands-on learning.
22. Calm Corner Exploration
Children explore a calm corner with soft toys, books, and sensory items when they feel overwhelmed.
This helps them learn to self-regulate by using a safe space to relax and reset.
23. Rain Breathing Visualisation
Children imagine rain falling gently while breathing in and out slowly.
This visual breathing exercise helps them calm down and focus on slow, steady breaths.
24. Play-Dough Feelings Faces
Children create faces on play-dough to show different emotions.
This helps them express feelings through play and improves emotional recognition and creativity.
25. Bedtime Gratitude Picture
Children draw a picture of something they’re grateful for before bedtime.
This helps them focus on positive feelings, improving mood and supporting a calm bedtime routine.
26. Pretend Play: Caring for a Toy
Children take care of a toy as if it is a friend, feeding, dressing, or comforting it.
This helps them practice empathy and caring behaviour, while learning to recognise emotions in others.
27. “Big Feelings, Little Steps” Game
Children match big feelings to small calming steps (like deep breathing or hugging a teddy)
This teaches them that big emotions can be managed with simple, calm actions.
28. Emotion Wheel Spin
Children spin a wheel that lands on different feelings, then act out or talk about the emotion.
This helps them learn emotional vocabulary and recognise feelings in a fun, interactive way.
29. Guided Belly Breathing
Children place a hand on their tummy and breathe slowly, feeling it rise and fall.
This helps them calm their body and manage emotions through slow, deep breaths.
30. Mirror Affirmations (“I am kind”)
Children say positive statements in the mirror like “I am brave” or “I am kind.”
This boosts self-esteem and helps children build a confident, positive inner voice.
31. Build a Feelings Tower with Blocks
Children build a tower and assign a feeling to each block as they stack.
This helps them understand that feelings can be “built” and that they can change over time.
32. Colour Inside a Calm Maze
Children trace a path through a maze while colouring slowly and quietly.
This helps them practise focus, patience, and calming concentration.
33. Act Out Emotions with Puppets
Children use puppets to show different feelings and tell a short story.
This helps them express emotions safely and practice understanding how others feel.
34. Movement Story Adventure
Children follow a story and act out movements like jumping, tiptoeing, or stretching.
This helps them release energy, practise listening, and connect emotions with movement.
35. Draw Your Safe Grown-Up
Children draw a grown-up they feel safe with and talk about why they trust them.
This helps them identify support networks and feel more secure during emotional moments.
36. Name 3 Things You Love
Children share or draw three things they love, like pets, toys, or family.
This encourages positive thinking and helps children focus on things that make them feel happy.
37. Soft Music Relaxation Time
Children sit or lie down while listening to calm music for a few minutes.
This helps them slow down, relax, and regulate their emotions through soothing sound.
38. Gentle Hand Massage Activity
Children give themselves a gentle hand massage or a grown-up helps them.
This promotes relaxation and helps calm the body when they feel stressed or upset.
39. Calm Countdown Game
Children count backwards from 10 to 1 while breathing slowly.
This helps them calm down by slowing their thoughts and focusing on counting.
40. Create a Happy Jar
Children decorate a jar and fill it with notes of happy memories or positive moments.
This helps them build a visual reminder of joy and encourages gratitude.
41. Follow-the-Leader Breathing
Children follow a leader who shows slow breathing movements, like raising arms while breathing in.
This makes breathing practice fun and helps children learn calming breath patterns.
42. Emotion Matching Memory Game
Children match pairs of emotion cards in a memory game style.
This strengthens memory skills and helps them recognise different feelings.
43. Draw What Calm Looks Like
Children draw a picture of what calm feels like to them, like a beach or cosy room.
This helps them create a visual reminder of calm and encourages emotional self-awareness.
44. Sing a Feelings Song
Children sing a song about emotions and actions, such as happy, sad, calm, and brave.
This helps them learn emotional words and express feelings through music.
45. Slow Walking Mindfulness
Children walk slowly and notice how their feet feel on the ground and the sounds around them.
This helps them practise mindfulness and stay calm by focusing on the present moment.
46. Feelings Scavenger Hunt
Children search for items that represent different emotions (e.g., a soft toy for comfort).
This helps them connect emotions to objects and improves emotional understanding through play.
47. Stretch and Yawn Game
Children stretch their bodies and yawn like animals to release tension.
This helps them relax their muscles and calm down after energetic play.
48. “What Helps When I’m Sad?” Drawing
Children draw or colour things that help them feel better when they’re sad.
This helps them identify coping strategies and encourages emotional self-awareness.
49. Colour Breathing Circles
Children trace circles while breathing in and out slowly, matching breath to movement.
This helps them regulate breathing and feel calm through guided movement.
50. Storytelling with Emotion Cards
Children pick an emotion card and create a short story around that feeling.
This helps them practise understanding emotions, storytelling, and expressing feelings in a fun way.