Feelings are Friends
Workshop on Emotional Intelligence, Well-being and Coping
Focus Area: Mental Health । Age: 10–14 । SDG 3.4 – Mental Well-being
Description:
“Emotions are Friends” helps children recognize, name and manage emotions through creative exercises and play. The workshop promotes emotional regulation, empathy and social skills in age-appropriate activities.
We work with simple tools that children can use at home and at school to talk about emotions.
Creative Practical Activity
Children make emotion dolls or emotion wheels from recycled materials, which help them put inner states into words and practice coping strategies.
- Make soft emotion dolls or emotion wheels
- Exercises in identifying emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear, etc.)
- Role-play to practice coping strategies
Digital Activity
For digital exercises, we use **ChatterPix** or **Scratch Jr** to give voice to emotions — children record short messages in which their emotion dolls talk about coping strategies.
- Record short messages in ChatterPix to practice expressing emotions
- Create simple animations in Scratch Jr that show coping strategies
- Share exercises with the group and talk about what helped
Tip: Make sure the activities take place in a safe space with adult support, especially when children are sharing sensitive emotions.
Learning objectives
- Recognize and name emotions
- Learn coping strategies and breathing exercises
- Strengthen empathy and social support
- Express emotions creatively through puppets and digital tools
Workshop-structure
(2 hours)
- Slow start and breathing exercise (10 min)
- Introduction to emotions and emotion wheels (10 min)
- Creative activity: Make an emotion puppet or wheel (40 min)
- Pause & reflection (10 min)
- Digital activity: ChatterPix / Scratch Jr (40 min)
- Sharing and summarizing (10 min)
Practical Information
- Duration: 2 hours
- Alder: 10–14 år
- Group size: 6–20 children
- Materials and iPads provided
- Mentors (15–19 years) support throughout the process
