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Helping kids create their own feeling faces book is another great way to help them recognize and discuss emotions.  You could have them draw pictures of faces showing different emotions.  Or, you can take photos of the child “modeling” the different feelings

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This is a song that can put you in a happy mood and get your day started.

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Pharrell Williams - Happy (Official Music Video)

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Polo the polar bear questions how his mother can love him with all her heart and learns from his many friends the all-encompassing quality of a parent's love.

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This activity is pretty simple, you can use pasta noodles for the children to express how they are feeling. To see if understand you can ask a question and have them make a face about how they are feeling.

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Here is a song for the children to express how they feelings,  & it's fun!

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If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands | Nursery Rhyme Songs for Kids

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There is a song that Daniel the Tiger sings that I think is really good for young kids. My 2 year old sings it.  It tells kids when they get mad to take a deep breathe and count to 4. Of course though the song is much cuter. Here is a link to it. http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ce65aeaa-ddd2-45dd-908e-6abd84ef2cb2/ce65aeaa-ddd2-45dd-908e-6abd84ef2cb2/
I believe songs like this are easy for young kids to remember and it teaches them how to start handling their frustration.

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I also found this on Pintrest. It's a feelings card you could buy or make your own really.  They suggested doing this for kids on the first day of school but, you could choose  to do whenever. This just lets kids say what they didn't like about something but also lets them find a like and love about the day. Plus ,you might even learn something new about your child. For some kids it's so much easier to write their feelings rather than tell you.

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I found this on Pintrest and it's called a Feelings Box.  You and your child take a shoe box and decorate however they want. Then everyday just have them write a word or draw a picture about feelings that they felt that day. I believe art to really help kids describe some of their feelings. It's a way for them to express themselves without really saying anything.

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Here is another audiobook I found on you tube, called Pete the Cat and His White Shoes.  This one I really like because it talks about how Pete steps in all kinds of different things and his shoes change colors. Instead of getting mad about it he just keeps right on going.Loving each new color they turn. This could really help kids see sometimes there is always a positive to what they might find a negative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuHzYssjjGc

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Here is  a book I found called I Feel.. There is also a link to you tube that has it as an audio book.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu-Ztd0XMUo It discusses how different situations through the day can make kids feel certain ways and that it is okay for them to feel each and every one of those feelings.

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Hey! How Are You Today? This is a song that you could sing with your children during circle time to get them to express how they are feeling for the day.

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Hey! How Are You Today?, by On A Good Note

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Hey! How Are You Today? by On A Good Note, released 22 January 2014 1. Hey! How Are You Today? 2. Hey! How Are You Today? (instrumental)

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This activity is called play-dough mat faces and it is another way for children to express their emotions and have fun with play-dough!

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Faces Playdough Mats (SB1312) - SparkleBox

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A set of printable playdough mats with blank faces for children to use their playdough to add the missing facial features.

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I found this activity on Pinterest and it's called a "feeling fan". I think it would be great for all the children to be able to make their own so that if they are not feeling like talking one day they are able to hold up how they are feeling. I would even go as far as to have the children draw their own happy, sad, or angry faces on their own fan and then you could laminate each piece for them.

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Coping with Strong Emotions through Art is a website that has a lot of great activities for the children to do in class. A couple ideas that stood out were to create an "art journal" where children can record their feelings or thoughts through pictures rather than words. It also says that to help children deal with anxiety they can just simply doodle on some paper. It also has been shown to increase memory and creativity!

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Anger that feels like it will explode out of you. Fear so strong you can't breathe. Sadness that feels like it has no end. Strong emotions are challenging even for the most well-adjusted adult to handle. So much more so for kids! But we can help. We can teach our children coping techniques while they are young that will assist them throughout their lives.

One of my very favorite techniques for dealing with strong emotions - those for which words fail - is art. I don't mean the kind of art that finds its way on to the refrigerator or gallery wall. I mean the kind that has no rules; that is not intended to "be pretty." Now, don't get me wrong. A lot of the world's greatest artwork was created as an expression of emotions the artist could find no other way through. But the point of the artwork is NOT visual appeal but rather emotional catharsis.

So here are some ideas for using art to cope with strong emotions. Use them yourselves and teach them to your children!

1. Start an art journal. No big deal. Just a notebook of some sort in which you record thoughts, feelings, etc. through pictures rather than words. For a more detailed description of how to get started, check out this article. You can also find some ideas on the pinterest board I have dedicated to just this topic.

2. Try out a Mandala. Mandalas have been used since ancient times. They are terrific for soothing a turbulent mind. Again, there are no rules. Just allow yourself to become consumed with the task of filling in the circle. Here are some printable mandalas to get you started.

3. Feelings Picture. This is an activity I use often in the office to help clients who are having difficulty expressing their emotions with words. Just sit yourself down with a big piece of blank paper and whatever art supplies you have on hand. No thinking allowed. Just start. Scribble. Splash. Scrub. Whatever. Allow the emotion to flow right out through your fingers.

4. Doodle. Doodling is a great way to deal with anxiety. It has also been shown to increase memory and creativity. Give it a try. Pick up a pen the next time your mind is racing and doodle as you did in middle school history class. If you would like a bit more structure to your doodling efforts, maybe zentangles are for you. This relatively new technique allows you to create complicated looking doodles using soothing repetitive patterns. Find out more about it at this terrific tangle site.

Give some of these a try and let me know how it goes. Also, let me know about your own favorite emotional art techniques.

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Coping with Strong Emotions... through Art

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Anger that feels like it will explode out of you. Fear so strong you can't breath. Sadness that feels like it has no end. Strong emotions are challenging even for the most well-adjusted adult to handle. So much more so for kids! But we can help.

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Have You Filled a Bucket Today is a guide to daily happiness for kids. It's a great book that encourages positive behavior as children see how rewarding it is to express daily kindness.