Introduction

Everyone experiences a wide range of emotions and feelings, both positive and negative. For young children, especially PreK students, understanding and managing these emotions can be challenging. Big, negative feelings like anger, frustration, or sadness can sometimes fill their whole brain, making it difficult for them to control their actions. In this blog post, we will discuss an easy-to-implement, no-prep activity to help PreK students learn how to change the channel on big emotions and prevent them from taking over. Additionally, we will share discussion questions, related skills, and next steps to further support educators in teaching emotional self-regulation.

No-Prep Activity: The Emotion Switch

This simple activity requires no preparation or materials from the educator. It is designed to help PreK students practice changing the channel on big emotions and develop self-awareness.

1. Ask students to sit in a circle and close their eyes.
2. Guide them to think of a moment when they experienced a big, negative emotion, such as anger, frustration, or sadness.
3. Have them focus on how their bodies felt during that moment and encourage them to name the emotion they experienced.
4. Now, ask them to think of a way to change the channel on that emotion. This could involve taking deep breaths, imagining a happy place, or thinking of something that makes them feel calm or happy.
5. After a few minutes, invite students to open their eyes and share their experiences with the group. Discuss how they felt before and after changing the channel on their big emotion.

Discussion Questions

1. Why is it important to learn how to change the channel on big emotions?
2. What are some strategies that you can use to change the channel on your emotions when you feel overwhelmed?
3. How does it feel when you successfully change the channel on a big emotion?
4. Can you think of a time when you changed the channel on a big emotion and it helped you make a better decision?
5. How can we support our friends when they are struggling with big emotions?

Related Skills

Teaching PreK students how to manage big emotions and change the channel on negative thoughts is just one aspect of Social-Emotional Learning. Other related skills that can benefit young learners include:

• Identifying and naming emotions
• Developing empathy and understanding others’ emotions
• Building resilience and coping strategies
• Communicating emotions effectively
• Practicing self-awareness and self-regulation

Next Steps

To further support your PreK students in managing their emotions and developing other essential Social-Emotional Learning skills, we encourage you to sign up for free sample materials from Everyday Speech. These resources will provide you with additional activities, lessons, and tools to help your students grow emotionally and socially, setting them up for success in and out of the classroom.