All Emotions are Friends! Using Art to Understand & Manage Your Feelings

Hello Friends!! Today we are talking about emotions. Sometimes experiencing new emotions or emotions that you struggle to control can be scary. However, every emotion we have is necessary to keep a balance and make up our personalities. 

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Let’s name some emotions! 

1. Happiness

2. Anger

3. Jealousy

4. Disgust 

5. Sadness

6. Embarrassment 

7. Anxiety 

8. Shyness

9. Boredom 

10. Excitement 

Here are some activities we can do to explore our feelings more: 

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1. Feeling Journal 

Materials: notebook, pencil, colored pencils 

Directions: Use a notebook to document your emotions daily through words or pictures (for example: draw an angry monster on a day you are feeling angry)

Purpose: The purpose of this journal is to document your feelings over days to months to understand your own emotions better 

2. Emotion Trees

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Materials: Paper, construction paper, markers 

Directions: Draw a tree on your paper. Cut out leaves using colored construction paper to represent different emotions and paste them onto your tree. Use your markers to label the emotions.

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to visually demonstrate emotions existing in harmony 

3. Coloring Pages: based on emotions

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Materials: Paper/printed coloring pages (ex: https://pbs.org/parents/printables/draw-your-feelings, https://iheartcraftythings.com/inside-out-coloring-pages.html), crayons, colored pencils, markers

Directions: print out coloring pages or draw your expression of emotion to color in 

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to visualize emotion with color 

4 .Painting Your Feelings 

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Materials: Canvas/heavy paper, brushes

Directions: Use the blank canvas to display how you are feeling. There are no rules to this assignment. Use colors and shapes to describe how you feel right now.

Purpose: This activity aims to get your feelings out on paper creatively and expressively. 

5. Calm Down Jar

http://bit.ly/4cBHJSB

Materials: Clear jar, water, glitter, food coloring, hot glue (get help from a parent if needed) 

Directions: Fill the jar with water and add glitter to the water with a few drops of food coloring. Seal the jar with hot glue. When you feel overwhelmed you can shake the jar and watch the glitter settle while taking deep breaths.

Purpose: The purpose of the jar is to help you refocus and feel more calm when you are overwhelmed or anxious. 

Try out some of these activities to explore your emotions! Sometimes it is difficult to understand the importance of them and how they fit together. Art is a great way to express emotions you do not understand as well as to visualize how they integrate. Let’s explore our emotions through art so that we can understand ourselves and others better!!