Laura, from England, sent in this great way to explore our emotions. Let’s take a look at it…
What did you do?
I set up this activity as a starting point for my daughter to explore and discuss her emotions. I created some emotion cards for the emotions happy, sad, angry and surprised. I introduced these by pointing and naming them and then we took it in turns to try and show these emotions on our faces with a mirror for added fun. By the end, she was confident in identifying the right emotion card and even had a go at naming them herself. We also read some Mr Men books based on these emotions.
The emotions cards were something we came back to during day to day activities, helping my daughter express her own emotions as well as identifying them in others (e.g. characters in books).
Do you have any other projects planned?
Since this activity, we have also completed another using the emotion cards. This time, I printed pictures of my daughter and close family members displaying each of the four emotions. My daughter then had to match the picture of the person to the emotion card they were displaying. This was great for discussion around who the family member was and how they were feeling and she often mimicked their emotion. My next step after this would be to introduce a few more emotions too (e.g. scared, tired etc). I find the constant repetition has been the biggest help.
Tell the Housebound With Kids community a bit about yourself…
I’m Laura from the North West of England. I have a daughter who is about to turn 2 and a little boy due in October. I’m a primary school teacher but have been home working during the pandemic, which has meant I’ve had been able to spend much more quality time with my daughter. We have loved learning together through play.
@learning_fun_with_mummy
How are you finding being housebound so far?
Although it can be challenging with the terrible twos beginning to make their appearance, the fact I’ve been able to spend so much quality time with my daughter has been amazing. Being a teacher, I usually only get a few hours with my daughter before she goes to bed so this change has been lovely.
Do you have any tips for other parents?
I think it’s all about balance – there are times our days are filled with activities for my daughter with a learning focus and there are other days when far too much Peppa Pig is watched (as Netflix likes to remind me with ‘are you still watching’).
Has this website and community helped you?
I think this website is absolutely fantastic as often the best ideas are where you have taken inspiration from someone else and tweaked it to suit your child.
