Fishing for Feelings

To make this simple game:

1. Print out three smiley faces, three sad faces, one angry face, and one clown face on cardstock. I just google-imaged "smiley face" and copied the ones I liked into Word.

2. Cut out the faces and scotch-tape small safety pins or paper clips to the back of each circle.

3. Make a fishing rod by tying embroidery thread or string to a dowel and taping a magnet to the end.

4. Now fish!

We made up different rules each time. First she had to find all the smiley faces, avoiding the sad faces, and picking up the clown face last. Then it was sad faces instead of smiley and the angry face last. Then she started making up a set of complex rules I couldn't understand, so I left her to it!


The Way I Feel by Janan Cain

This simple book is geared toward older toddlers and preschoolers to help learn feeling words and their definitions. The illustrations are colorful and friendly, and I appreciate that they include a variety of feelings: jealousy, boredom, pride, shyness, and others that are not often addressed.

For another fishing activity and an awesome book that teaches kids how to deal with teasing, check out this older post.