Drawing the Way We Feel - Activity Instructions

Tune In

When children are encouraged to check in and listen to their bodies and the way they are feeling, they are better able to recognise the emotions they are feeling and the impact this is having on their actions and behaviour.

After reading Charlie’s Tales: Dara and the Moonlight Cub, ask the children to identify how Dara felt when she was tired. Children may suggest answers such as

She was grumpy.
She had sore paws.
Mean to her friends.
Missed out on things later in the day.

Find Out

Ask children to stand up and find a space in the room. Ask them to move their bodies in ways that show what they might do when they are feeling each emotion.

Show me with your body what you might do when you are mad (stomp, make fists, scowl)
Show me what your body might do if you are feeling excited (jumping, arms in the air, big smile)
Show me how your body might look if you were feeling very tired (slouching, head down, eyes closing)

Explain to them that our bodies and the things our bodies do, show the emotions we are feeling inside.

Take Action

Create collaborative pieces of art based on different emotions as the children draw/paint/create based on the feelings they feel inside them as they imagine different emotions.

Hang large pieces of paper or cardboard around the room/yard or on easels, each labelled with a different emotion. Working on a vertical surface has many benefits for small children, such as gross motor skill development, crossing the midline, shoulder elbow stability, and core strengthening. The number of emotions and choice of emotions can depend on the group.

Provide children with a choice of mark-making tools in a variety of colours- pencils, textas, pastels, crayons, and paint/brushes.

As children (individually or in small groups) approach each work surface, describe to them a scenario in which they might feel a certain emotion. As you are describing the emotion, ask them to draw or paint the way that their body is feeling as they imagine themselves experiencing this scenario.

For example:

Imagine your friend has just taken your favourite toy. You asked for it back and they told you they were never ever going to give it back. It’s making you feel really angry! Then they break your toy right in front of you. It makes you even angrier.
Imagine you’ve just seen a really big present sitting on the table with your name on it. You know its for you but you don’t know what's inside it. You are so excited to see what's inside it! Someone tells you it’s something that you really, really love! It’s so exciting you feel like you are going to explode!
Your best friend is going on a big holiday. You are going to miss them, and this makes you feel really sad. You love it when you get to play with them, but you aren’t going to be able to play for a really long time. You get really upset thinking about saying goodbye to them.

Encourage the children to really feel into the imaginary scenario. When describing the scenario, use expression in your voice that matches the emotion and show body language that embodies the emotion. This invites the child to attend to the task at hand with matched enthusiasm, making art that matches each mood. For example, when working on the ‘angry’ piece, children might do lots of aggressive stamps on the page, where as the ‘excited’ piece might see more swirls or long, exaggerated strokes.

Examples below:

Drawing the Way We Feel

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