Feelings Tree

Talking about feelings helps us to understand each other. If we can describe many different feelings, we can communicate our wants, needs, and experiences with other people more clearly. Today, we’re going to brainstorm different feelings words and write them down on pieces of paper shaped like the leaves of a tree. We’re going to make a Feelings Tree filled with different types of feelings.

1. At the beginning of the day/week, choose one card with an emotion that they will explore. For convenience, place the emotion cards in a box).
2. Students can create their own “Feelings Tree” or use the Feelings Tree emplace. If online, display a slide with the image of the tree throughout the activity.
3. Students can write or draw on a piece of paper in the shape of a leaf:

• the name of the emotion
• how the emotion feels in the body,
• how it might look in other people’s bodies,
• how this feeling can look in body position, movements, and gestures,
• when this feeling may arise,
• how often they feel it

4. Model how to use the Feelings Tree. For example: “I am thinking about what it’s like to feel excited. I am going to write ‘excited’ on this Feelings Leaf and add it to the tree.”
5. Add feelings words to the tree over the day/week/year to reflect new experiences and new words that students are learning.
6. Encourage students to use the words on the Feelings Tree to talk about their feelings in everyday moments.

• Why do you think it’s important to talk about feelings?
• How many different feelings did you have today? Can you share a few examples? Tell us what you were feeling and why.

For primary school students:

• Invite students to choose their own feelings word. Invite students to place their leaf on the tree. Review each word as it is added to the tree: describe what it looks like, sounds like, or feels like, and give an example of when someone might feel that way.
• Choose to use one Feelings Tree for the whole class or individual trees for each student. Individual trees can demonstrate how we might experience the same emotion differently. Help them play around with details, such as the size of the leaves, to show how intense or frequent certain feelings are to them. You could then make a Forest of Feelings Trees that grows over the course of the school year.
• Ask student to keep track of how often they, or someone they know, experience certain feelings over time. Create a graph to share the results of the research.
• Create a Feelings Trees for characters in a fairy tale/story.
• Invite students to create a “line of feelings” to determine their intensity. When interacting with students in years 1 and 2, talk about feelings in simple terms, such as how “big” or “small” they feel. Discuss the intensity (“size”) of a particular feeling in different situations (e.g., “measuring” joy when students eat sweets, play with friends, go to school in the morning, etc.).
• Create trees for specific scenarios - e.g., “Tree of Achievement” or “Tree or Worry” - adding leaves for all the feelings that could be associated with that experience.

For students in grades 5-6:

• Have students group feelings leaves on branches of the tree to represent different types of feelings that are similar or distinct from one another.
• Encourage students to make an emotions book report about the different emotions that are present in their favorite book and what causes the characters to feel them.
• For a less public display of feelings words, create a “Feelings Book,” in which students submit feelings words anonymously.