Teaching Children to Identify and Express Emotions
Children can start learning how to identify emotions even in infancy.
To teach infants and young children to identify their feelings:
(a) use non verbal cues such as your facial expression, body language, tone of voice and eye contact to mirror their feelings back to them
(b) use language to teach children about the names of different feelings
(c) use additional emotional literacy resources, such as posters, art, cooking and books
Over time, children learn through repeated experiences, each feeling = matching facial expression = naming word.
Children can then learn to express manageable feelings using words if they are repeatedly taught to identify their feelings in this way AND they have developed adequate language skills.
“I Can See My Feelings”
You are welcome to freely download a simple emotional literacy picture book from Dr Kaylene Henderson’s website to use with your child as you teach him/her about feelings. Simply go to: www.drkaylenehenderson.com/freeresources
