Helping kids develop a robust vocabulary to describe emotions may help them communicate their emotions, which has been linked to improved social support seeking.

Even the language we use about emotions in the presence of children tends to be extra simplified: “happy, sad, bad, etc.” For young children, just developing language and their ability to describe inner states, this extra-simple language is appropriate.Īs kids grow, though, one key task of educators, parents, and caregivers is helping kids develop the ability to check in with themselves, notice what they are feeling, and express those feelings appropriately. Too often, we don’t provide kids a lot of space to have and express complex emotions. Using an emotion wheel with kids can help kids develop an increasing awareness of emotion and a wider vocabulary of language for expressing their own emotions. The particular organization and kid’s creation of additional feelings they identify can help provide unique insight for teachers, parents, or mental health providers to connect with kids and young teens.

The exercise of placing emotions in the appropriate category builds both linguistic skills and emotional-developmental awareness.

Once the pepperoni-shaped feelings labels are cut out, you can collaboratively create a custom feeling wheel.

Next: Cut out each of the preprinted pepperonis and invite kids to add other feelings by writing them in the extra pepperoni shapes provided.

First: Invite kids, teens, or families to color the pepperonis and the pizza crust.

Integrate this resource into your classroom lesson plan, therapy session, or family intervention, with the following steps: The full color pizza-themed emotion wheel, a part-color wheel, and a black-and-white version are included with the interactive two-page worksheet in this resource developed for teachers and parents of children and teens ages 5 to 15.

Emotion color wheel printable