Mr Snowman's Facial Expressions

It’s wintertime! This means you might be at home more trying to get away from the cold and rain. This can be a good time to support your child to learn different emotions. This activity can allow your child to recognise others’ and manage their own emotions. We can learn different emotions by observing others’ facial expressions.

Make Mr Snowmanwith coloured paper and scissors. Give your child some coloured pencils to draw different facial expressions. Here are some tips:

  • Pick one emotion at a time

Try not to overload your child by discussing too many emotions in a day.

Simple emotions: happy, sad, angry, tired

Complex emotions: confused, frustrated, upset, disgusted

  • Watch a video with scenario showing the emotion e.g. When do you feel tired?

This can visually support your child to identify emotions.

  • Give some real-life examples.

E.g. “Dad felt tired after he cleaned up the fridge. Do you remember?”

  • Make the facial expression yourself – act it out!

It is easier for the child to describe and draw the expression.

  • Discuss the facial features

Eyebrows (e.g. are they going up or down?), eye position (e.g. are they looking forward, away or down?), mouth (e.g. is it smiling or pulled down?)

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