Feelings & emotions for kids

What's here

Twelve feeling faces, from happy and silly to grumpy and shy. Each one is a friendly character your toddler can tap to see the feeling move: happy bounces, sleepy yawns, surprised goes "whoa." Every face comes with one plain line about what that feeling is like, in words a two-year-old can actually use. No lessons, no lectures, just names for the faces your kid already makes all day.

Meet these first

• Happy, the sunny feeling that makes you want to smile, giggle, and jump
• Silly, the giggly feeling that makes you want to be goofy and laugh
• Grumpy, the cranky feeling, where a deep breath can help the grumpies float away
• Surprised, the "whoa!" feeling when something happens you didn't expect
• Sleepy, when your eyes feel heavy and a big yawn says it's time to rest
• Proud, the big, tall feeling you get when you try hard and you do it
• Shy, the quiet feeling, because it's okay to take your time before you say hello
• Sad, an okay feeling to feel, where a hug and a good cry can help
• Excited, the wiggly, can't-wait feeling that makes your whole body buzz

How to play (60 seconds)

This one's all about faces. Tap a feeling, then make it together: point at grumpy and do your best matching scowl, tap surprised and both go "whoa!" with big round mouths. Then flip the game and ask "which face is the sleepy one?" and yawn dramatically when they find it. If you have a mirror handy, finish there, making happy, silly, and surprised faces side by side. Toddlers love catching a feeling face on their own reflection.

Good to know

Feeling words are just vocabulary, and playful is the easiest way to collect them. A kid who has tapped "grumpy" fifty times for fun now has a word to reach for, and naming feelings during play, when nothing is actually wrong, is a lot easier than introducing a new word mid-meltdown. Keep it light and keep it silly. For more words to point at together, the free Starter Pack with first-words cards is on our printables page at /printables.

Keep exploring

Faces pair well with the rest of the collection. Try bedtime when the sleepy face wins, pets and cats for animals with plenty of moods of their own, and animal-sounds-for-kids when it's time to be loud instead of calm. The homepage has every theme in one spot.