Teach Your Child About Emotions: The Fun Felt Face Activity

Updated at: 06/03/2025

Helping children understand and manage their emotions is a crucial aspect of their development, laying the foundation for healthy social interactions and emotional well-being. Young children often struggle to articulate their feelings, leading to frustration and outbursts. This can be a challenging experience for both parents and children, but it doesn't have to be. Teaching emotional literacy can be a fun and engaging process, making learning about feelings a positive experience instead of a daunting one. Learning to recognize and label emotions is the first step, and that's where our simple yet effective felt face activity comes in.

This fun and creative craft project will guide your child through identifying and expressing a wide range of emotions, from happiness and sadness to anger and surprise. Using readily available materials, you'll create customizable felt faces that visually represent different feelings, making the abstract concept of emotions more concrete and understandable. To get started on this engaging activity and help your child build essential emotional intelligence, let's dive into the step-by-step instructions below.

Preparation and Safety Guidelines

Tools Needed
  • Colored paper
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Felt
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Markers/Crayons
Safety Guidelines
  • Always supervise young children during this activity to prevent choking hazards from small felt pieces.
  • Focus on positive reinforcement and avoid shaming or criticizing your child's emotional expression. The goal is to build emotional literacy, not judgment.
  • Adapt the activity to your child's age and developmental stage. Keep it simple and engaging for younger children, and introduce more complex emotions as they grow.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. Prepare the Emotion Book Base

    • Cut out small colored paper circles.
    • Fold each circle in half and glue them together to create a stack.
    • Add an extra circle to the outside to hold the stack together and write 'Feelings' on it.
    Add an extra circle to the outside to hold the stack together and write 'Feelings' on it.Add an extra circle to the outside to hold the stack together and write 'Feelings' on it.Add an extra circle to the outside to hold the stack together and write 'Feelings' on it.
    Prepare the Emotion Book Base

  2. Draw and Label Emotions

    • Draw various facial expressions representing different emotions (happy, sad, angry, surprised, etc.) on the paper circle stack.
    • Label each emotion beneath its corresponding face.
    Label each emotion beneath its corresponding face.Label each emotion beneath its corresponding face.
    Draw and Label Emotions

  3. Create Felt Facial Features

    • Cut out felt pieces for eyes and mouths in various shapes and sizes.
    • Use pipe cleaners for eyebrows and mouths to allow for flexible expression.
    Use pipe cleaners for eyebrows and mouths to allow for flexible expression.Use pipe cleaners for eyebrows and mouths to allow for flexible expression.
    Create Felt Facial Features

  4. Play and Learn with Felt Faces

    • Assemble the felt facial features and allow the child to play with and experiment with the various parts creating their own expressions.

Read more: Colorful Crayon Surprise! Play-Doh Fun!

Tips

  • Discuss emotions with your child when they are calm, not just during emotional situations.
  • Proactively discuss anger management strategies before an outburst occurs, offering alternative coping mechanisms.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Focusing only on 'happy' and 'sad'

Reason: Ignoring the wide range of emotions children experience can limit their emotional vocabulary and understanding of nuanced feelings.
Solution: Introduce a wider variety of felt emotions, including anger, fear, surprise, and excitement, and discuss the different ways each emotion can feel.

2. Forcing children to identify emotions they don't understand

Reason: Pressuring a child to label their feelings before they are ready can lead to frustration and avoidance of future emotional discussions.
Solution: Let the child lead the activity and only gently guide them toward identifying emotions when they seem receptive.

FAQs

My child is very young (under 3). Is this activity still suitable?
Absolutely! While younger children may not grasp the nuances of all emotions, this activity helps them connect faces with basic feelings like happy, sad, and angry. Focus on simple emotions and make it a playful experience. You can even just use felt shapes to represent eyes, mouths, and eyebrows instead of pre-cut faces.
What if my child struggles to identify or express their emotions during the activity?
Don't worry! This is completely normal. Guide them gently, using descriptive language. Instead of asking 'How do you feel?', try saying 'Your face looks like it's showing me you're sad. Is that right?' Focus on the process, not perfection. The activity itself is a tool for learning, not a test.