These emotional intelligence activities for kids are incredible ideas for teaching and practicing these essential skills.
Through a variety of activities and games, your children can benefit from both self-awareness and empathy exercises. I’ve included over 19 ideas to make it fun to learn about feelings, self-expression, communication, mindfulness, and more.
Find out how I’m using these activities with emotional intelligence themes with my boys. And get your free printable pack with tips for enjoying with your students!
Why Emotional Intelligence Skills Are Important
Just when you think you’ve got this whole parenting thing down, something pops up and reminds you that you never stop learning and growing with this gig. Maybe you can relate?
As a homeschool mom of 5 boys, I spend a lot of time with my children. And as a former mental health therapist, I believe that I’ve done a pretty good job in helping my boys (now ages tween to twenty-one!) learn and practice healthy emotional regulation and communication skills.
My boys get along very well. They have strong relationships with each other. And they all come to me to “process” (our family word for talking things out – whatever the topic or issue may be).
But, I forgot one very large influencer in how older children and young adults interact – HORMONES!
Oh my stars! I didn’t anticipate the emotional whirlwind that I was greeted with when I came home from grocery shopping the other day!
Xman (my youngest – 10) and Bear (13) are usually like two peas in a pod. They happily do almost everything together. Until it came to birdwatching (I know – an odd thing to get wound up about but what can I say? We’re homeschoolers!)
Bear has become obsessed with all things birds. He has books, podcasts, and apps all related to birds. And his trusty “birdnoculars” (his term for binoculars) go with him everywhere.
Apparently, while I was pushing a cart through Aldi, Bear and Xman had “an altercation”. Xman was tired of waiting for Bear to finishing jotting down his latest observations in his bird journal. Allegedly, he spit out words such as “dumb birds”, “all you care about is birds”, and “I just want to throw those binoculars against a brick wall”.
Bear’s feelings were hurt. He threw down his pencil and the boys got in each others’ faces. Details became blurred at this point. Luckily, Smiley (15) intervened and separated them to cool off until I came home.
I sat both boys down and we had a long chat about what happened. They’re back to being best buds but the incident reminded me that skills like assertiveness and emotional intelligence need to be revisited and practiced.
These types of skills are important for both personal and interpersonal relationships. Kids of all ages (including adults) benefit from being able to identify their emotions, regulate their reactions, and mindfully express their thoughts and feelings.
I knew it was time for a review so I put together these fun emotional intelligence activities for kids – and had to share with you!
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Before I get to all of these fun activities for learning about and practicing emotional intelligence skills, let’s look at what emotional intelligence is.
Emotional intelligence theory was first presented by Salovey and Mayer. Daniel Goldman shared these ideas in his book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. In this book, Goldman suggests the concept of Emotional Quotient and how it relates to one’s self-awareness and emotional regulations.
In addition to awareness of self, emotional intelligence involves having the abilities be aware of the feeling of others and to use that information to positively interact with others.
A few of the key aspects to emotional intelligence include:
- Self-awareness: Identifying your own emotions and how they affect your thoughts and behavior. People with high self-awareness are good at recognizing their strengths and weaknesses, as well as having a realistic sense of their own self-worth.
- Self-regulation: Controlling impulsive feelings and behaviors. Emotionally intelligent people can manage their stress levels, stay calm under pressure, and think before they act.
- Social awareness: Picking up on the emotions of others. People with high social awareness are empathetic and can understand what other people are feeling.
- Relationship management: Building and maintaining healthy relationships. Often good communicators, individual with high emotional intelligence can effectively resolve conflict, as well as inspire and motivate others.
Emotional intelligence provides you with powerful tools that you can use throughout your life. Family, school, friends, career, and personal development all benefit from having and using these skills.
The good news: You CAN help your kids (and yourself) learn and practice these essential skills! With fun activities, games, books, and videos, you’ll be able to experience the benefits of growing your emotional intelligence!
Powerful Ways to Learn About Emotional Intelligence
I wanted to make sure that you were aware of these fantastic resources that build emotional intelligence. My boys and I use many of these materials (and have the others on our wishlist!). I hope these games, books, and activities help you (along with our free printable pack that you can find out more about at the bottom of this post!):
Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQFiona Flamingo – Children’s Emotions Book that Teaches Emotional Intelligence & How To Identify, Label, and Manage Feelings – Best Toddler Books That Grows Social Skills For KidsI’m Just a Kid: A Social-Emotional Book about Self-Regulation (Social Emotional Books)The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions (The Color Monster, 1)A Little SPOT of Emotion 8 Book Box Set (Books 1-8: Anger, Anxiety, Peaceful, Happiness, Sadness, Confidence, Love, & Scribble Emotion)The Feelings BookPP OPOUNT Social Emotional Learning Toy, Funny Faces Games with 28 Facial Expressions and 12 Emotional Flashcards, Preschool Learning Activities Toy to Express Emotions for Kids Age 3+hand2mind Rolling for Feelings Dice Game, Therapy Games, Play Therapy Toys, Social Emotional Learning, Emotional Regulation for Kids, Social Skills Activities for Kids, School Counselor SuppliesAizweb Feelings Emotions Match Game,Memory Game,Social Emotional Learning Activities,Toddler Baby Flash Cards,Calm Down Corner Supplies,Educational Toys for Pre K Preschool Kindergarten Autism ADHD
19 Fun Emotional Intelligence Activities for Kids
I recommend that you carefully read through these ideas and get a feel for each of them. After printing out the list + tips, circle or highlight ideas that you’d like to try first.
I’ve also added a few extra ideas that are not on the printable list. These ideas can be found here on Rock Your Homeschool (and you can subscribe to our email list to get the freebies!).
- Playdough Emotion Activities
- Emotion Playdough Mats
- Growth Mindset Cootie Catchers (and any of our other free growth mindset activities)
- Emotion Charades
- Emotion Cards (can use our playdough mats)
- Emotion Journal
- Empathy Role Playing
- Feelings Thermometer
- Emotion Sorting Game
- Mindfulness Exercises (get our free printable under the sea and leaves mindfulness activity sets)
- Gratitude Practice (our gratitude scavenger hunt is a super fun activity)
- Conflict Resolution Role Plays
- Regulation Techniques
- Emotion Bingo
- Emotion Art Collage
- Emotion Detective
- Feelings Wheel
- Emotion Matching Game
- Emotion Walk
Get Your Free List of Ideas for Fun Emotional Intelligence Activities
High five! I think it’s incredibly awesome that you want to empower your kids (and yourself) with emotional intelligence skills!
This free printable list of ideas for fun emotional intelligence activities includes three pages (two pages with ideas and a cover page).
Print as many of these lists as you need to enjoy with your students at home, in the classroom, and at the library. Please share this post with your friends!
To get this free printable pack of fun emotional intelligence activities for kids, you simply need to subscribe to Rock Your Homeschool.
⭐️ An email will be sent to your inbox with the PDF file plus a password to open the VIP Resource Library to all RYHS freebies. Please email Amy at rockyourhomeschool@gmail.com if you have any issues!
You will also be added to our email list and receive emails with ideas, resources, and encouragement to make life and learning fun 🙂
(If you’re currently VIP member, just go to the VIP Resource Library and enter the password in your welcome email.)
⭐ Get your free printable list of fun emotional intelligence activities for kids! ⭐
