Emotions cards for children

Children can find expressing themselves difficult. They might not fully understand their emotions yet, so telling you how they feel is difficult. 

Our emotions cards provide your child with expressive faces that help them understand what different emotions are. Over time this aids your child in expressing their feelings to you and others. 

We recommend using the cards for children under the age of 7.

Simply download and print the cards. Your child may wish to colour in the emotion cards on the final sheet, or use the coloured ones on page 2. 

They can then use the cards to tell you how they are feeling. It helps them name their emotions and learn to express themselves. They can use them whenever they like, but the cards might be particularly helpful when they are experiencing heightened emotions. 

It's important to communicate to your child that no emotion is 'bad' or 'wrong'. There are times when all of us feel angry, or bored, or embarrassed. Having conversations about emotions and normalising them helps build your child's emotional literacy, and their ability to have a healthy understanding of their feelings as they grow. 

You can use both copies of the cards to play a game of snap, or turn them over and ask your child to find the matching pairs. These activities help them learn about different emotions.

You could also place the cards face down and ask your child to pick one up, turn it over, and give an example of when they might experience that emotion, e.g. I feel bored on a long car journey. 

These activities help your child learn about emotions in a fun way. 

Learning about emotions helps children understand their own feelings, the feelings of others, and express themselves. This is important for their own wellbeing as well as building their social skills. 

Trying different activities with the cards or using them as a helpful tool to name their feelings enables your child to interpret how they are feeling. It also builds their awareness of other's emotions and how to react to them sensitively.