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Teaching big emotions to little kids can be a daunting task.

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Teach Big Emotions To Your Child With the Color Monster

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So many of our parenting frustrations derive from tantrums. Those tantrums surface most of the time because children do not know how to cope with their emotions yet. It’s our jobs as the adults in their lives to teach them the right way to handle emotions.

I say right way because there are a TON of wrong ways to cope with our emotions. Until children know exactly what emotions are, why we have them and different ways to cope, they will usually always choose the wrong ways to express themselves. Because they know no other way.

One of my favorite ways to teach big emotions is through books. My second favorite way is through hands on learning.

Today we started a new mini series: Big Emotions for Little Kids.

I geared these activities to use with children ages 2-6. However, you can always teak them if you have older children.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be showing you my favorite books to teach what emotions are to little children. I put together activities, crafts and games that you can use with these specific books to help your child grasp the concepts taught while also having fun!

The book we started with today was The Color Monster: A Pop- up Book of Feelings. This is probably one of my all time favorite ones! The book is simple, colorful and pops up which makes it extra fun for kids!

I love the way this book lays out the information because it is simple. This allows children to understand emotions in a way that makes sense to them and helps you teach big emotions to young children.

With colors.

Red= Angry. Blue = Sad. Etc.

Children who are starting to grasp what emotions are may not be able to tell you exactly what they are feeling, but as they start to understand the concepts taught in this book you can use it in a way to help them express themselves.

For example, if Miss S is feeling an emotion but is unable to tell me what she is feeling, I can ask her, what color do you feel right now? Or do you want to color a picture of how you are feeling? If she colors a red picture, that may be a hint for me that she is feeling angry about something.

This is my number one recommended feelings book to help teach big emotions.

I purchased mine on Amazon (You can get yours here!). I have yet to see them in stores, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there!

Next we created “feeling jars” also known as glitter jars or calm down jars.

The girls LOVED this activity! I had made a calm down jar with Miss B when she was around 2 and honestly it wasn’t that big of a hit. So we tossed it. Now that the girls are a bit older and are starting to understand emotions better, their reactions were 10x more enthusiastic.

To create your own emotions jar you just need a few basic items.

• mason jars or plastic water bottles.
• glitter and glitter glue
• sequins (optional but definitely worth it!)
• distilled water
• clear glue
• hot glue gun
• food dye

First start by adding 1 cup of water to your jar. If you are working with young children a plastic water bottle may be more realistic. Regardless of what you use, teach your children how to use their emotion jar first, and explain to them that it is not a toy. This is will reduce the risk of a mason jar breaking or a water bottle getting busted.

After you add your water, add glitter glue and any glitter you/your child wants to put in the jar. Then add sequins.

After you add your glitter stir and add any food coloring that you would like to. Miss S went extra heavy with the purple, hers looks almost black. But hey it’s her jar not mine right?

Add more clear glue, honestly I just guessed on how much would be enough. Kind of go with your gut. Then fill the rest of the jar up with water. Seal off with hot glue.

Shake your jar, or let your child do it. You are all set! These jars are perfect to teach your child self-coping skills, regulation and how to calm down.

Have them find a nice quiet place when they are feeling upset, shake the glitter, watch it fall and count to 10 or 20.

After we created their emotion jars they worked on color pages, created their own monsters and we played an emotion sorting game.

This game is perfect for young children, who do not know their colors well yet. The girls created their own monsters, glued them on a paper bag and we added different colored circles to their monsters.

I took the rest of the mason jars I had on hand and added construction paper to the inside. This gave each jar their own color, and that jar was a specific emotion. (like in the book.)

Next we made up stories about what would make their monsters feel a certain way.

For example, Pixie took Sweetie’s toy, how did that make her feel? Angry? Yes! Take an angry circle and put it in your monster bag.

Afterwards, their monsters emotions were all mixed up like the color monster in the book, the girls then “helped” their monsters sort their feelings by putting the correct colored circles in their jars.

The big girls breezed right through this game (I’ll have to think of a way to make it harder) but the babies really enjoyed it! This would be perfect to teach color recognition, along with the story. You could also use puff balls or colored (large!) buttons.

Afterwards, the girls did a crossword puzzle and maze. Overall I’d say the first day was a success!

The Monster Packet I created to go along with the book is below was so much fun and it’s free for you!

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You can download the Color Monster Packet by clicking below!

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• 12 Habits of Immensely Peaceful Moms
• 63 Mom Hacks That are Pure Genius
• Connect With Your Child and Build Up Their Heart

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