The Feelings Artbook

48 activities that explore emotional issues through drawing. For many children, drawing is a more pleasurable activity than writing. These activities and worksheets use drawing as the basis for exploring emotional issues and promoting children’s emotional literacy. The book is intended for anyone who spends time with children, including teachers, learning mentors, therapists and parents. It is organised in three sections: Self-esteem – The activities in this section promote a positive sense of self by helping children to identify their strengths and preferences, their achievements and aspirations, the people and things they value. Many of the activities creatively explore a sense of personal power, something that children of this age have little opportunity to do. Understanding this concept helps them to take responsibility for their emotions and actions. Emotions – In this section children identify and define a wide range of feelings, expanding their emotional vocabulary beyond the basic ‘happy’, ‘sad’ or ‘angry’.

More complex feelings such as jealousy, pride and embarrassment are examined, and children are encouraged to define these feelings in both words and drawings, and through personal experience. When children understand what causes strong emotional reactions, they are better able to manage their feelings in an appropriate way. Empathy – These activities encourage children to consider other people’s feelings and preferences, and to think from different perspectives. Some offer specific viewpoints to focus on such as an old lady, a baby or an alien. Others promote empathetic skills such as listening. For each activity the instructions include a clearly stated aim, a suggested outline of how to conduct the activity and two optional follow-on ideas. Flexibility is central to the design: the activities can stand alone or be incorporated into an emotional literacy programme. The finished drawings can be displayed or kept by children as a visual reminder of their learning. Includes FREE CD Rom containing the whole book in colour.

Ages: 4-11