Spinning Feelings Game

Suggested Grades

K-3

Objective

Students will examine the feelings and the typical feelings to certain situations.

Materials

  • something heavy that will be a suitable to make an arrow (coffee can lid, paper plate…)
  • cardboard
  • pencil
  • scissors
  • permanent markers
  • 5×7 cards

Method

To Make the Spinner:

  • Cut an arrow from your heavy material and punch a hole in it with the points of a pair of scissors.
  • Trace the paper plate with a pencil on a square of cardboard. Cut the cardboard 1-2″ (5-10cm) larger than the traced circle.
  • Push a hole through the center of the paper plate with a pencil point or scissors tips, and another hole through the center of the cardboard square.
  • Join the plate and the square with a brad by pushing it through the plastic arrow, through the plate, and through the cardboard. Open the brad to the back of the cardboard. The plate should be able to spin around freely.
  • Draw two lines crossing each other directly through the center of the plate to divide it into four equal pie shapes with a marker. In the first pie shape space, draw a happy face. In the next space, draw a sad face. Draw a surprised face and an angry face in the last two spaces. Other feelings-faces could be drawn instead of any of these four, such as: sleepy, bored, goofy, giddy, dreamy, thrilled, melancholy, and so on.
  • On the 5×7 cards, write out situations that your students think up, someone kicked you, it’s your birthday, you have pizza in your lunch, it is the first day of school…

To play

  • Students sit in a circle with the spinner and the situation cards in the middle of the circle.
  • The first player picks up a card and spins the feelings spinner. The player must act out the situation using the emotion on the spinner. For example, if the player draws the “you just got a new puppy” card, and the spinner lands on “happy”, the player acts out what it might be like to get a new puppy, and being very happy about it, using happy words and saying happy things. But if the spinner says the payer is sad about it, this changes the situation completely, and the player must act sad about getting a new puppy.
  • The next player takes a turn. And so on.