ELSA SUPPORT - Emotions board game - Emotional Intelligence/literacy, PSHE, mental health

The Emotions game - is a game to help teach emotional awareness. It will help with emotions vocabulary, recognising facial expressions and give an understanding of how the child may feel in certain situations.

The game could be played on a one to one basis or a group basis. My suggestion is no more than four children.

To make the game

Photocopy or print the game board onto A3 paper then laminate

Print all the cards, laminate and cut into separate cards

The game consists of:

‘How would you feel if’ cards

‘Act it’ cards

A game board

A bingo board

You will also need counters and a die

How to play

Choose the person to go first by each throwing the die and the highest number thrown goes first. Go clockwise from that person.

The first person throws the die and moves their counter that number of spaces.

If they land on an emotion face then they must say what that emotion is. If they land on a ‘How would you feel if’ space then they must pick a card and answer the question. If they land on an ‘Act it’ space then they must pick a card and act out the emotion with facial expression and gestures. You could even encourage them to say a sentence or phrase which someone who feels that emotion might say. If they answer the questions or act out the emotion then they get a counter to fill in their bingo board. The first person to fill their board is the winner so you may need to continue going around the board again. Each person must name two facial expressions, two ‘act it’ cards and two ‘how would you feel if’ cards to win the game.