Children learn the best when they are taught through fun and simple game-like activities that keep them involved and interested. Emotions Flashcards or Feelings Flashcards are examples of the perfect tools that you can use effectively on your children to help them learn emotional vocabulary, which is a crucial developmental skill required by all human beings to lead a healthy and stress-free life.
This comprehensive article will explore emotion flashcards, and their benefits for children’s emotional vocabulary learning, and provide a list of printable flashcards and resources for purchasing them.
It is crucial for a child to not just be able to communicate with others and be responsive to their surroundings, but also, be able to establish a mode of communication by identifying, labeling, expressing, and managing their inner emotions and feelings. If a child lacks this skill set, it will be very difficult for them to respond appropriately and stay engaged in social relationships that are meaningful.
What are Emotion or Feeling Flash Cards?
Emotions flashcards or feeling flashcards are cards that have pictures of facial expressions on one side and the name or label of the emotion on the other side. These kinds of cards help in teaching children about emotions and feelings.
Generally, emotions flashcards consist of a set of 54 cards. 48 out of these 54 cards feature different visual representation of human emotions, while the remaining 6 include blank cards on which parents or teachers can write any desired emotional vocabulary according to their requirements.
These blank cards give educators the opportunity to be creative and design their own set of emotions flashcards by adding emotions that they want their students to learn. The best way to use these feeling flashcards is by mixing up all the emotions and spreading them over a table or floor face down.
Now, ask your child to pick up one card at a time and identify the feeling or emotion displayed in the picture. Once they have correctly guessed the emotion, they can then turn the card over to check whether they are right or wrong. In this way, not only will children have fun while playing but also learn new emotional words and their meanings.
How Emotion Flashcards are Beneficial for Your Child?
There are many benefits of using emotion or feeling flashcards with children, some of which are mentioned below –
Helps in Expanding Emotional Vocabulary
One of the most important benefits of using emotions flashcards is that it helps in expanding a child’s emotional vocabulary.
As we all know, emotions are complex and sometimes it becomes very difficult to find the right words to express and describe them, especially for children. However, with the help of feeling flashcards, they can learn new emotional words and eventually be able to express themselves more effectively.
Helps in Developing Emotional Literacy
Another benefit of using emotions flashcards is that it helps in developing emotional literacy among children.
Emotional literacy simply means being able to understand and express emotions in a healthy way. It is a very important life skill that all children must learn in order to lead a happy and stress-free life.
With the help of emotion flashcards, children can learn about different emotions and their facial expressions, which will eventually help them in developing emotional literacy.
Helps in Improving Social Skills
Another benefit of using flashcards with emotions are they help in improving social skills.
Social skills are very important for children as they help them in interacting and engaging with others in a healthy way. If a child lacks social skills, it can be very difficult for them to make friends and adjust to different social situations.
However, by using emotions flashcards, children can learn about different emotions and how to express them appropriately, which will eventually help them in improving their social skills.
Recognizing and understanding emotions is fundamental to developing social skills. Emotion flashcards can assist children in identifying and empathizing with the emotions of others, which is a critical aspect of social interaction.
However, it’s essential to understand that the development of robust social skills requires more than learning to recognize negative emotions.
It also involves understanding social norms, practicing empathy in real-life situations, and learning to listen and communicate effectively.
While emotion flashcards are a helpful tool in this journey, they are just one component of a larger strategy to cultivate strong social skills.
Enhances Visual Memory
One of the most important benefits of feeling flashcards is that it helps in enhancing visual memory.
Visual memory is the ability to remember what we see. It is a very important cognitive skill that helps us in remembering things like faces, objects, and landmarks.
By using emotions flashcards, children can learn about different facial expressions and eventually be able to see real faces and remember them. This will help them in improving their visual memory.
Boosts Confidence
Emotions flashcards can also help in boosting confidence.
Confidence is a very important life skill that helps us in facing challenges and taking risks. If a child lacks confidence, it can be very difficult for them to adjust to new situations and interact with others.
However, by using emotion flashcards, children can learn about different emotions and facial expressions, which will eventually help them in boosting their confidence.
Improves Awareness of the World
Another benefit of using emotion flashcards is that it helps in improving awareness of the world around us.
Awareness simply means being able to notice and understand what is happening around us. It is a very important life skill that helps us in making better decisions and solving problems.
Stimulates Creative Thought Patterns
Last but not least, using emotion flashcards also stimulates creative thought patterns.
When children are exposed to all sorts of emotions, it helps in stimulating their creative thought patterns and they start thinking about things in a different way. This is very important for overall development.
Some Important Tips for Using Emotion Flash Cards
Here are a few ways by which you can help your child make the most of emotion flashcards –
Always Start with Basic Emotions
When you start using emotion flashcards with your child, it is important to start with basic emotions first. Emotions that are basic include happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise.
Once your child has learned about these emotions and their facial expressions, you can then move on to more complex emotions and more flashcards such as scared, calm and silly.
Make it a Game
Another way to make the most of emotion flashcards is by turning them into a game. There are many games that you can play with feeling flashcards, such as memory match, snap, etc.
Not only will this be enjoyable for your child but also help them in learning about emotions in a fun and interactive way.
Encourage Your Child to Express Their Feelings
It is also important to encourage your child to express their feelings while using emotion flashcards. This will help them in understanding their own emotions better and eventually be able to express them in a healthy way.
You can do this by asking your child questions about the emotions they see in the story and pictures and also encouraging them to share their own experiences and feelings.
Fun and Useful Ways to Use Emotion Flashcards
Here are 5 fun ways to use emotion flashcards:
Emotions Posters
You can print emotion flashcards as posters and put them up in your classroom or child’s room. This will serve as a constant reminder for children and young learners to learn about all sorts of emotions.
Emotion Memory Game
You can also play a memory game with emotion flashcards. For this, you will need to print out two sets of cards and then mix them up. Your child’s task will be to match the pairs of emotion cards.
Emotion Guess Who Game
You can also play a guessing game with emotion flashcards. For this, you will need to show your child an expression card and they will have to guess the emotion.
This game is not only fun but also helps in improving your child’s observation and deduction skills.
Emotion Matching Game
You can also play a matching game with emotion flashcards. For this, you will need to print out two sets of cards and mix them up. Your child’s task will be to match the expressions with the corresponding emotions.
This game is a great way to help your child learn about all sorts of emotions and their facial expressions.
Emotion Board Game
You can also create a board game with emotion cards. For this, you will need to print out the cards and then create a board with all sorts of emotions. Your child’s task will be to match the expressions with the corresponding emotions.
This game is a great way to help your child learn about different emotions and their facial expressions in a fun and interactive way.
So, these are some of the ways in which you can use specific emotion flashcards to help your child learn about emotions. Do try out these ideas and let us know how they worked for you.
List of Printable Emotions Flashcards
16 flashcard emotions and their definitions:
- Happy – feeling or showing pleasure, contentment, satisfaction
- Sad – feeling or showing sorrow; unhappy
- Angry – feeling or showing strong displeasure, hostility, or resentment
- Afraid – feeling fear, apprehension, or terror
- Disgust – a feeling of revulsion or strong disapproval
- Surprise – a feeling of utter astonishment or incredulity
- Hope – a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen
- Love – a strong affection or liking for someone
- Jealous – feeling or showing envy of someone or something else
- Pride – a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction that comes from one’s own achievements or from the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated
- Embarrassment – a feeling of self-consciousness, shame, or awkwardness
- Compassion – a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, especially when accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering
- Annoyance – a feeling of irritation or bothersome; frustration
- Frustration – a feeling of annoyance, impatience, or dissatisfaction
- Contentment – a feeling of happiness and satisfaction
- Satisfaction – the contentment one feels when one has achieved their goals or desires
Free Resources for Feelings Flashcards
Here are a few online resources from where you can get printable emotion flashcards for your children:
- https://childhood101.com/helping-children-manage-big-emotions-printable-emotions-cards/
- https://www.flashcardsforkindergarten.com/feelings-flashcards/
- https://www.twinkl.co.in/resource/t-t-2157-emotions-word-cards
- https://www.teatimemonkeys.com/emoji-emotions-flashcards/
- https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/flashcards/feelings-flashcards
Conclusion
Using emotion flashcards is a great way to help your child learn about emotions and emotional expression. These cards can help in teaching your child about different emotions and their facial expressions.
They can also be used to play games that are not only fun but also help in improving your child’s observation and deduction skills. So, do try out these ideas and help your child grow into an emotionally strong human being.
References
Emotions flashcards: Fun tool for kids to learn about feelings & emotions. Very Special Tales. (2022, June 2). Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://veryspecialtales.com/emotions-flashcards/
Why flashcards are important for toddlers. Learning Time. (2021, September 30). Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://learningtime.co/2020/12/10/why-flashcards-are-important-for-toddlers/
McCormack, D. (n.d.). We researched the best flashcards for kids that make learning fun. Verywell Family. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://www.verywellfamily.com/best-flashcards-for-kids-5104847
x, J. (2019, July 8). Toddler Flashcards: Good or bad? My Little Learner. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://mylittlelearner.co.uk/blogs/blog/flashcards-for-toddlers
