10 Printable Feelings Worksheet for Kids

Developing emotional vocabulary helps children recognize and express feelings, while emotional regulation is linked to improved mood and self-esteem [*][*]. Feelings worksheets for kids support these by providing activities for emotional growth.

Parents, teachers, and therapists can use these tools to nurture emotional intelligence in children.

What is a Feelings Worksheet?

A feelings worksheet is a tool designed to help children recognize, understand, and express their emotions.

These worksheets provide structured activities that guide children in:

• Identifying their feelings
• Understanding their emotional triggers
• Developing healthy coping mechanisms

Feelings worksheets often include exercises like mood tracking, emotion labeling, and self-reflection prompts. They come in various formats, often featuring colorful charts, emotion faces, checklists, and writing prompts.

Some worksheets use visual scales to help children gauge the intensity of their emotions, while others provide word banks of different emotions to help expand their emotional vocabulary. Many also include spaces for drawing, reflection questions, or interactive activities.

They can be used by parents, teachers, and therapists to support a child’s emotional development and health.

How Feelings Worksheet Benefit Kids

Feelings worksheets help children develop emotional intelligence and self-awareness.

By engaging in these exercises, kids can:

• Identify, express, and manage their emotions in a healthy way: Worksheets help children recognize different feelings and practice appropriate ways to express and regulate them.
• Improve communication skills: By labeling emotions and discussing them, kids learn how to effectively share their feelings with others.
• Practice self-reflection: These activities prompt children to think about their emotions, triggers, and responses.
• Develop empathy: Understanding their own emotions helps kids relate to and recognize feelings in others.
• Support their mental health: Engaging with feelings worksheets regularly can reduce stress and anxiety by providing children with tools to manage their emotions effectively.

10 Printable Feelings Worksheet for Kids

Here are ten engaging and effective printable feelings worksheets that can help kids explore their emotions:

1. Feelings Check-in Worksheet

The feelings check-in worksheet provides a simple way for kids to check in with their emotions daily. It includes a list of common feelings—such as happy, scared, sad, and overwhelmed—and space for children to describe what they are thinking.

When using this worksheet, kids can choose where they feel their emotions in their body, and whether the feeling is tiny or big. The bottom of the worksheet has a list of healthy coping skills they can use to manage their emotions.

2. Feelings Thermometer

This feelings thermometer is a visual tool that helps children gauge their emotions, from cool to hot. Colder feelings refer to sadness and tiredness, while anger and jealousy are hotter emotions. In the middle, they can also find emotions such as happiness and peacefulness.

Kids can also use this worksheet to determine how their emotions are affecting their behavior, and what they can do about it.

3. Feelings List for Kids

The feelings list for kids features a comprehensive list of emotions that helps children expand their vocabulary. It can encourage them to assign words to their emotions, so they can communicate their feelings more effectively.

Younger kids can start learning more about basic emotions such as happy, sad, and angry. Over time, they will learn that there are more specific words they can use to describe what exactly they are feeling. For instance, happiness can be further described as feeling content, excited, or hopeful.

4. Coping Skills Chart

Feelings worksheets not only help children identify what they are feeling, but also how to manage these feelings. The coping skills chart is a resource that provides a variety of coping strategies children can use when they feel overwhelmed with their emotions.

First, they choose which emotion they’re feeling, and explain why they felt it. It also helps them determine if their response is healthy or not. This worksheet suggests coping skills that they can use — from relaxation to self-care, grounding, mindful distraction, and asking for help.

5. Happiness Brain Chemicals

This happiness brain chemicals worksheet introduces kids to the four primary brain chemicals linked to happiness— dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. It explains how deficiency in these chemicals can affect their emotions and behavior, and lead to mood swings, low self-esteem, fatigue, and sleep struggles.

To combat these, the sheet also suggests activities to naturally boost happiness levels, such as exercising regularly, getting enough sunlight, and deep belly breathing.

6. Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS)

SUDS is a self-assessment tool that allows children to rate their emotional distress on a scale. In this worksheet, a visual thermometer features a number from 0-10. A lower number refers to minimal distress while a higher number indicates strong distress.

SUDS is used in therapy to understand the intensity of children’s emotions. Different DBT distress tolerance skills are also recommended in the worksheet.

7. What Makes Me Feel

For children to manage their emotions more effectively, they need to understand their triggers. This can help them develop coping strategies. The What Makes Me Feel worksheet features various emotions — from happy to excited and lonely. Kids can write down one thing that makes them feel each emotion.

This worksheet can be used as a learning tool at home or in the classroom to help kids understand what influences their emotions.

8. Feelings Situation Reflection Worksheet

The Feelings Situation Reflection worksheet is a guided journal-style worksheet that asks children to reflect on their emotions, what influenced their feelings, and what they can do to make themselves feel better.

They can draw their emotions, name them, and reflect if the emotion made them feel pleasant or stressed. This tool can be used by parents and teachers to help children understand themselves better.

9. Happiness Mindsets

This worksheet describes three mindsets that can lead to happiness — optimism, gratitude, and growth mindset. The Happiness Mindsets worksheet includes activities that guide children to practice these mindsets in their daily lives.

This worksheet reminds children that happiness can be a choice, and these mindsets can be chosen every day.

10. Weekly Feelings Tracker

The Weekly Feelings Tracker allows children to record their emotions each day for a week. It helps kids recognize patterns in their moods and identify external factors that may be influencing them.

By reviewing their entries, children can identify patterns, develop coping mechanisms, and track their progress.

Help Your Child Explore Emotions with These Feelings Worksheets

Understanding emotions is an important part of a child’s development. By using printable feelings worksheets, parents, teachers, and caregivers can provide children with valuable tools to explore their emotions.These worksheets can be integrated into daily routines, classroom activities, or therapy sessions.

Check out our entire collection of feelings worksheets to support the social-emotional development of your child.

References:

1. Streubel B, Gunzenhauser C, Grosse G, Saalbach H. Emotion-specific vocabulary and its contribution to emotion understanding in 4- to 9-year-old children. J Exp Child Psychol. 2020 May;193:104790. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104790. Epub 2020 Jan 25. PMID: 31991263.
2. Djambazova-Popordanoska, S. (2016). Implications of emotion regulation on young children’s emotional wellbeing and educational achievement. Educational Review, 68(4), 497–515. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2016.1144559