Parents should teach their children right from the stage of personality formation in expressing and controlling emotions. Helping children understand and regulate emotions will be the foundation for building emotional intelligence (EQ).
Accordingly, some methods of teaching emotions through games bring high interaction, helping children absorb easily and bring optimal results.
Emotional table
Use an emotional table with faces expressing many different emotions such as joy, sadness, anger, surprise, anxiety... This emotional table will help children easily recognize when parents ask their children to choose an expression that corresponds to their emotions.
This game will help children develop the ability to quickly recognize personal emotions, thereby knowing how to control their own emotions.
Secret mailbox
The game about the secret mailbox is a place for children to write their emotions on a small piece of paper and put them there. Every weekend, parents and children can open a secret letter box and take a note to read and discuss what the child writes.
Teaching children to write and think will help them practice expressing emotions actively and proactively. This is also a way of learning to help children know how to share what they want or their own views on both studying and life.
Performing situations
Expressing situations in some cases will help children learn how to express their emotions. This method also helps children discover themselves, express their own emotions as well as have appropriate behavior. The game provides a method for children to learn to sympathize and think about problem solving.
Traffic lights
The traffic light game also shows emotions with 3 traffic light colors corresponding to each emotional state, such as: red (stop), yellow (think), blue (act)...
When children feel angry or frustrated, they can choose the color of the red traffic light that indicates stopping; breathe and think about the action to choose yellow; the final step is to choose the appropriate behavior (blue).
Playing traffic lights will help children understand that controlling behavior is a process, not an immediate reaction.
Emotional question card
With emotional question cards, children will randomly withdraw cards with emotional questions such as: "When angry, what should I do?", "Who is the person that makes me feel safer?".
Through this game, children can easily express their emotions without being afraid or shy about sharing with others. This game also helps children develop emotional language skills and practice critical thinking in later life.
