Emotion Wheel Printable: Help Kids Learn and Talk About Feelings

Emotions Wheel Printable for Kids: In today’s post, we will explore what emotions wheels are, we will review some of the most popular ones, and we will share four different emotions wheels for kids to help identify, label and express their feelings, and expand their emotional vocabulary.

“Emotion is a complex chain of loosely connected events that begins with a stimulus and includes feelings, psychological changes, impulses to action and specific, goal-directed behavior … Emotions are not simply linear events, but rather are feedback processes.
The function of emotion is to restore the individual to a state of equilibrium when unexpected or unusual events create disequilibrium.” (“The nature of emotions” Robert Plutchik)

Emotions are complex responses to something a person hears, sees, tastes, smells, touches, remembers, or does.

Our emotions can trigger:

• Affective experiences – the feeling itself, like pleasure or displeasure

• Cognitive processes – how we think about and interpret what’s happening (for example, making judgments or labeling the emotion as “anger” or “excitement”)

• Physiological adjustments – changes in the body, like a racing heart or tense muscles

• Goal-directed and adaptive behaviors – actions we take in response, such as withdrawing, seeking help, or standing up for ourselves

Emotions are so difficult to define that there is no real consensus on a definition.

Sources: A categorized list of emotion definitions (Kleinginna & Kleinginna, 1981)

What is an Emotions Wheel?

An emotions wheel is a visual tool that organizes feelings into categories. It helps people notice, understand, and express their emotions, and it’s used in settings ranging from therapy and classrooms to research studies on how we experience and describe emotions.

People use emotions wheels in many ways. They can help:

• put feelings into words, so it’s easier to talk about them

• teach emotion words, especially to kids, neurodivergent individuals, or anyone who has trouble naming their feelings

• notice and understand what we’re feeling in the moment

• handle emotions more calmly, by recognizing them before they get too big

• see how emotions connect to each other, like how frustration might grow into anger

• study how people feel and react, in research and psychology

Psychologist Robert Plutchik developed the first known wheel of emotions in the 1980s. Since then, many other versions have been created and adapted for different ages, settings, and purposes.

In the next sections, we’ll look at some well-known emotions wheels, and I’ll also share a few kid-friendly versions I’ve created to support emotional learning at home or in the classroom.

Examples of Influential Emotion Wheels

Over the years, several emotion wheels have become widely recognized for their impact in psychology, emotional education, and research.

Each one offers a different way to organize and understand emotions.

Some focus on how feelings are related, while others are helpful for naming and exploring emotional experiences.

Below are three influential emotion wheels that have shaped how we teach, study, and talk about emotions.

Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions

Plutchik’s emotions wheel is probably the most famous graphic representation of emotions.

Plutchik came up with this conceptual representation of emotions drawing on the parallelisms between emotions and colors (intensity, gradients, opposites).

Plutchik stated that a color wheel could help visualize the complex concept of emotions:

• Similar emotions could be placed in proximity while opposite emotions could be placed at a 180 degrees distance
• Mixed primary emotions would result in secondary emotions, in a similar way to mixtures of primary colors producing secondary colors

Plutchik suggested eight basic bipolar emotions:

• Joy versus sorrow
• Anger versus fear
• Acceptance versus disgust
• Surprise versus expectancy.

He also added a third dimension, representing the intensity of emotions, rendering a cone-shaped structural model of emotions.

Closer to the center, we find high-intensity emotions, and as we move away from the center locate the lower intensity emotions, within those emotion families.

Plutchik also suggested that we could account for hundreds of emotion terms by mixing two or more emotions at different levels of intensity.

For example:

• Joy + Acceptance produces Love
• Disgust + Anger produces Hatred

 

The Feelings Wheel by Gloria Willcox

Dr Gloria Willcox published her Feelings Wheel in 1982.

In her experience as a psychotherapist, she often encountered clients who lacked the emotional vocabulary to express their feelings.

Inspired by J. Zinker’s  description of therapists as artists, and Plutchik’s emotions theory, she came up with her own feelings wheel proposal.

The inner circle represents six common feelings. She initially chose four basic emotions: mad, sad, glad and scared. But decided to expand “glad” into “joyful”, “powerful”, and “peaceful” to create a balance between positive and negative emotions.

Radiating from those six emotions, the feelings wheel presents secondary emotions that relate to the center circle root feelings.

 

Geneva Wheel of Emotions

The Geneva Emotion Wheel (GEW) is a theoretically derived and empirically tested instrument to measure emotional reactions to objects, events, and situations. (GEW; see Scherer, 2005; Scherer, Fontaine, Sacharin, & Soriano, 2013.  Université de Genève) 

In the Geneva Wheel of Emotions 20 emotion terms corresponding to emotion families are aligned in a circle, based on two dimensions:

• Valence (unpleasant to pleasant)
• Control (low to high)

There are five degrees of intensity, represented by circles of different sizes, plus a “none” (no emotion felt) and an “other” (different emotion felt) areas in the middle circle of the wheel.

 

 

Printable Emotion Wheels for Kids

Learning about emotions is an important part of children’s social and emotional development.

Emotion wheels can be helpful tools for a variety of activities, from building emotional vocabulary to talking about feelings in everyday situations.

For this post, I’ve created a few printable emotion wheels designed especially for kids.

 

Blank Emotions Wheels

I’ve also included a couple of blank emotion wheels you can customize to fit your needs.

These are great if you want to:

• add specific emotions you’re currently working on

• use emotion words your kids or students already know and relate to

If you need a little inspiration to fill in the blanks, I’ve added emotion word ideas from our ultimate emotions list.

How to Use Your Emotions Wheels

There are many fun and practical ways you can use your emotions wheels for kids. These are some ideas to get you started:

1. Identifying Emotional States

   Use the wheel to help kids check in with how they’re feeling.
   Try prompts like:

   • “Today I’m feeling…”
   • “How did I feel during this part of the day?”

   At home, we use our basic emotions wheel to talk about everyday situations. My son loves going through his day, turning the wheel to show what he felt at different moments.
   “I was happy, but then a balloon exploded, first I got surprised and then afraid because I don’t like balloons popping, but then I got angry”. And, as we discussed how he felt in those situations, we place the wheel in the correct emotion.

2. Play Emotion Charades
   Spin the wheel to select a feeling. One person acts it out while others guess.
   This is a fun way to explore body language and expressions tied to different emotions.
3. Build Emotional Vocabulary & Start Conversations About Emotions
   Spin the wheel to prompt conversations and reflection:
   • Have you ever felt that emotion? When?
   • How did your body feel?
   • What were your thoughts?
   • What did you do about it?
   • How would you explain this feeling to a friend?
4. Talk About Intensity: How Big Is This Feeling?
   Some of these wheels can be used to help describe the intensity of an emotion
5. Draw Your Emotions
   Invite kids to draw a scene or character that shows the emotion they land on.
   This is especially helpful for children who struggle to express feelings with words.
6. Calm-Down Support
   Use the wheel when big feelings show up to help kids name what they’re experiencing.
   This can be part of a calm-down routine, helping them move from overwhelmed to understood.
7. Talk About Feelings After a Disagreement
   After an argument or tough moment, use the wheel to talk about what everyone was feeling and how those feelings changed.
8. Create a Personal Emotions Wheel
   Let kids customize a blank wheel with emotion words that feel true to their experiences.