Ability to Identify and Name Emotions

Helping Children Identify and Label Emotions

• Provide an environment in which children feel safe to share their feelings. Remember that you might be offering the only emotionally safe haven for children experiencing abuse, neglect, violence, or other trauma in their lives. Expect that it will take some time for children to trust and feel safe to communicate openly with you.
• Pair a photograph or sketch of a "feeling face" with the corresponding emotion word. Introduce a variety of feeling words, beginning with the primary emotions (happy, sad, mad, afraid, surprised, and disgusted) and gradually add words to expand children's feelings vocabulary (disappointed, frustrated, excited, embarrassed, worried, etc.). See Figure Below

Feeling Words for Young Children to Build an Emotional Vocabulary

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• Teach feeling words by naming and describing emotions as children experience them. Observe children's facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language to assess their feelings. "Julian, you look sad." "Matthew, you are really having trouble with that puzzle. You seem frustrated." "Hector, you are shouting and your face is all red. You look really angry." These affective reflections (nonjudgmental statements that describe the emotion of the child) help children identify their own affective state and feel understood and accepted (Kostelnik, Whiren, Soderman, Stein, & Gregory, 2002).
• Because children are not always sure what they are feeling or why, make observational statements describing the probable emotions of a child rather than asking that child "How are you feeling right now?" or "Why are you so sad?" As children become more skilled at identifying emotions and the situations that create them, they may be able to answer questions such as, "You look angry. What happened?"
• Act as a role model by including emotions in your everyday conversations with children. "I was so worried when my child was sick yesterday." "I am so frustrated! This stapler keeps jamming and I am trying to display your artwork for your parents to see on this bulletin board." "Once my puppy got hurt and I was very sad and scared."
• Plan emotion-related class meetings, games, and activities. Create and use materials that encourage discussion of feelings.