(FREE Poster) Emotional Vocabulary: The Ultimate List of Emotions for Kids

In this post about emotional vocabulary, you will learn:

why it is important to teach an emotions vocabulary to children
tips on how to improve their ability to express feelings.

You will also able to download an emotional vocabulary list (free poster) with more than one hundred words that describe feelings of happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, and disgust (six basic emotions).

Describing an emotion can be difficult, even for adults, but for kids, using words to talk about their feelings is not something that develops naturally.

It is our job as parents, teachers, and counselors to assist our children in learning the skills required to verbalize their own emotions and to recognize emotions in others.

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What are the basic human emotions?

Emotions are feeling responses to something a person hears, sees, tastes, smells, touches, remembers or does. Feelings are neither good nor bad, it is our subsequent reactions to our emotions which make the experience positive or negative.

There are many classifications of human emotions but two systems are in common use.

Dr. Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California, identifies six basic emotions based on facial expressions and physical movements. He calls these elements anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.

Another psychologist, Dr. Robert Plutchick, adds an additional two states to his ‘Wheel of Emotions’ — trust and anticipation — for a total of eight basic emotions. He pairs these emotions together to get four sets of opposites – joy/sadness, surprise/anticipation, trust/disgust, and anger/fear.

Why is it important to teach emotional vocabulary to kids?

Having an extensive emotional vocabulary is an integral part of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to acknowledge one’s feelings, process them, and act accordingly. This communication skill is not instinctive but must be taught, nurtured and encouraged from a young age.

When kids develop a robust emotional vocabulary and are able to confidently name their feelings, they are more likely to be empathetic, perform better in school, have more positive relationships with other people, experience good mental health, have less behavioural problems, develop resilience and coping skills, and become capable and competent human beings.

How to build your child’s emotional vocabulary?

There are many ways to interact with your child in a way that promotes the mastery of an emotional vocabulary. Verbal communication is the key to success. Here are a few suggestions to improve your kid’s ability to express themselves:

Name the feeling you see your child experiencing – “You look happy eating that ice-cream.”
Listen to their feelings and reflect them back without pacifying them — “I see you are angry that your sister took your pencils. I understand why.”
Ask questions about feeling states — “How are you feeling today?”
“Did going to the park make you happy?”
“How do you feel when you think about Gran?”
“What are you afraid of?”
“Why do you like your teacher?”
“What has upset you enough to make you cry?”
Comment on the emotions of other living things – “Look at that dog wagging his tail. He must be happy to see you.”
“Look at the rabbit hiding in the corner. He must be frightened by all the noise/”
Question the emotions of TV characters – “How do you think Jim feels right now?”
Encourage with praise – “I really liked the way you used your words when your told your sister you were mad at her.”
Question physical cues and behavior – “Are you kicking your toys because you feel angry?”
Discuss alternatives to emotional situations – “I wonder what would have made that situation LESS disgusting?”
Model emotional vocabulary in your own life – “Wow, that car speeding past us made me feel scared that we might have had an accident.”
Make and use a feeling chart or a mood tracker for kids.
Identify feelings in others – “Your brother is sad because his best friend, Alan, is moving to another school.”
Organize feelings games and activities (Check out these 50 feelings activities for kids)
Use tools like emotions flashcards to help them learn and express feelings

Feelings and Emotions Vocabulary: The Ultimate List of Emotions for Kids (100+ Feelings Words)

Happy Words

Happy, joyful, satisfied, fortunate, content, cheerful, merry, lucky, jolly, delighted, smiling, sunny, cheery, joking, grinning, thrilled, chuffed, excited, friendly, loving, fantastic.

Sad Words

Sad, unhappy, sorrowful, depressed, tragic, unfortunate, awful, miserable, down, gloomy, blue, heartbroken, sorry, glum, hurt, low, weepy, out of sorts.

Surprise Words

Surprise, shock, amaze, stun, startle, astound, unusual, wonderful, mind-blowing, astonish, unexpected, remarkable, breathtaking.

Fear Words

Fear, afraid, terror, frightened, horror, alarm, panic, dread, anxiety, worry, unease, nervous, timid, suspicion, cringe, shudder, uncomfortable, tense, concerned, scared, the creeps.

Anger Words

Anger, annoy, irritate, frustration, rage, fury, bored, crabby, temper, displease, bug, drive crazy, mad, hassle, cross, embarrassed, jealous, overwhelmed, tell off.

Disgust Words

Disgust, revolting, sickening, loathe, horrible, gross, ugly, dirty, foul, nasty, yucky, grotty, vile, wicked, ghastly, horrid.

Activities to Expand your Kid’s Emotional Vocabulary

➡️ “Feelings and Dealings” by Camille Childs is a range of products created to help develop emotional intelligence and social skills through games and fun activities.

Kids learn how to identify emotions through:

facial expressions
body language
in social context

Check out Fealing and Dealings ? :

The ABC’s of Emotions Storybook – a journey through 26 emotions, learning emotional intelligence and social skills with rhymes while moving through the alphabet.
Color my Emotions – a coloring book to learn 24 emotions while coloring
An Emotions and Empathy Card Game – an award-winning game: 48 expressive feelings cards, 24 universal emotions, 3 educational games, and 5 therapy games all in one card deck for kids aged 3 to 6 years

➡️ I know what to do when I’m feeling
I know what to do when I’m feeling is a flipbook that will help children identify and respond appropriately to their emotions. It is fully interactive and unique situations and solutions can be added for each emotion.

It has 18 different emoji tabs (Angry, bored, confident, confused, embarrassed, excited, frustrated, grumpy, happy, hungry, impatient, sad, scared, shy, sick, tired, ungrateful and worried).

➡️ My Mixed Emotions: Help Your Kids Handle Their Feelings
My Mixed Emotions is a great book to help kids learn about feelings:

physiology of our emotions
where we feel our emotions in our body
coping strategies for big emotions.

It also reflects on stressful life experiences like bullying, divorce or big changes (like going to a new school) and how to cope with those experiences.

➡️ How I’m Feeling

How I’m Feeling is a sentence completion card game. This 52-card pack provides children with a variety of sentence completion prompts to help them open up and share what they’re thinking and feeling.

The prompts cover topics like anger, anxiety, sadness, grief, traumatic experiences, family issues/changes, fears, difficulties at school and more.

(FREE) List of Emotions Poster Download

Download “My Feelings Vocabulary” a free poster with a list of emotions for kids that you can use at home or in the classroom.

Fill in your details below the picture?