Kids experience many emotions like happiness, peace, anger, boredom, and sadness. They might feel these emotions even without realizing it, which can lead to confusion or difficulty in managing them. Understanding these different emotions and their possible triggers is important for healthy emotional expression and regulation.
The What Makes Me Feel is a simple 2-page worksheet activity that allows young people to name specific things that trigger particular emotions. Specifically, they are tasked with naming one thing that makes them feel happy, sad, tired, mad, and other emotions that they experience.
These worksheets encourage kids and teens to recognize what influences their emotional state, which can help them develop coping strategies. Parents and teachers can provide support during the activity by creating a calm space where kids feel safe to talk about their feelings. They can give examples from their own lives as “conversation starters” and use tools like emotion cards or a feelings chart to help kids name their emotions more easily.
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Want more resources like this? Check out our full catalog of feelings worksheets and handouts.
References:
- Fundación Universidad del Norte. (2017). Emotion regulation in children and adolescents: Concepts, processes, and influences. Psicología desde el Caribe, 34(1), 101-110.
- O'Neill, A., Stapley, E., Stock, S., Merrick, H., & Humphrey, N. (2021). Adolescents' understanding of what causes emotional distress: A qualitative exploration in a non-clinical sample using ideal-type analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.673321
