As adults, we know how important it is to be able to express feelings. Our feelings help us know who we are and help us react appropriately to different situations. We also know that our children also have feelings. Sometimes they express their feelings with adorable giggles, or other times by throwing toys on the floor and making loud noises. Other times, they just burst into tears and cry loudly. I am sure we all have had moments of frustration because we just could not figure out what was wrong with our little ones. As early childhood educators, we believe that children are already ready to express how they feel and understand why they feel a certain way. We launched the "Our Feelings" activity during circle time this week. We started by singing a song called "Hello Hello How Are You," and randomly called a friend to ask "How are you feeling?" Erika, one of our educators, showed by example how to participate in this activity. When she was called, she answered "I feel happy because many of our 3A friends gave me hugs!" When I was called, I said, "I feel tired because I did not get enough sleep last night." There is a feelings chart which has pictures (emoticons) that represent each feeling. It was made to give our children the visual of each feeling. Once we started the activity, the children were so eager to share how they felt by pointing to our visual chart. But it was still tricky for them to define a reason why they felt that way. We continued to do the activity whenever we had the chance, and the children gradually became more explicit in their reasoning of why they felt a certain way. Today Nico said, "I feel mad because my dad took my scooter away." Manu said, "I feel sick because I have a boo boo on my nose." Adela pointed to the "sick" picture and expressed that's how she felt. I asked her why, and Emilio, who was sitting next to her pointed to Adela's boo boo on her neck! We noticed that the children are understanding how certain actions relate to certain emotions. We hope that by sharing emotions, it will eventually help them to build stronger friendships and empathy for others.
We painted how we felt on canvas! The children shared their feelings and chose a paint color that made them feel that way! Emilio felt happy and chose blue to paint his canvas. Katerina felt silly and chose purple to paint her canvas.
Our 3A friends decorated their thank you card for Balloon Saloon using finger paint, corn kernels, and pom poms. Then on Thursday, we delivered our thank you card to Balloon Saloon! They were so happy to see us. We are so grateful for their generosity!
