Location: indoor

Materials: images of different emotions (optional)

Circle Time provides a great opportunity to check in on the general mood of the day. One way you can do this is by asking kids to share how they are feeling. One of the simplest ways to support social-emotional development is by giving them regular opportunities to talk about how they are feeling.

At Circle Time as you are welcoming children to school, invite them to share how they are feeling. Some kids might feel shy about sharing, so having printed images of facial expressions and emotions can be helpful in allowing them to share.

As adults we understand that emotions can be complex and sometimes we experience multiple at the same time. You can model this for your kids by sharing your emotions as well. For example you might say, "Today, I'm feeling both happy and a little impatient. I'm happy that we have a fun day planned, and I'm a little impatient for the weekend." You can show the images of happy and impatient while you speak.

Another goal is to broaden the vocabulary your kids have for emotions. One way to do this is to discuss emotions that are more specific than just happy, sad, mad (ex: tired, frustrated, impatient, frightened, scared, excited, disappointed, etc.). You can also include words that mean similar things (ex: happy, ecstatic, thrilled, content, etc.) because these can spark conversations about the subtle differences between these emotions.

The goal is top make talking about feelings and emotions a normal activity that you and your children do all the time.