Feelings Faces
Core emotion vocabulary for identifying and naming feelings.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Make the face and let the child copy it. Emotion words attach to expressions faster than to definitions at this age, and a child who can produce a scared face usually has the concept. Name your own feelings during the session — I'm surprised, that was silly — because incidental modelling teaches these words far better than a card drill does. Six minutes is a full pass for this age group.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentSet up the situation and wait for the student to respond on their own.Log as correct
- Nonverbal cueUse a look, a gesture or a point to the visual cue card.Log as cued
- Indirect promptAsk 'What could you say now?' or 'How do you think they feel?'Log as cued
- ModelShow what to say or do, then run the moment again so the student can try it.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer feelings at a time, starting with the most different ones, like happy and sad.
Role-play with a new partner, or add a twist the student has not planned for.
Matching IEP goal
Given pictures of faces and short situations, Student will name the feeling shown and one reason someone might feel that way in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect prompt.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve emotion words for young children: happy, sad, mad, scared, tired, silly, excited, surprised, proud, shy, calm, worried. The first four are the ones every child gets taught; the value of this set is the rest — silly, proud, shy and worried are states a preschooler experiences constantly and often cannot name.
What to listen for
Watch which emotions are recognised but not named. A child who points to the right face and cannot produce the word has comprehension without expression, which is normal and points at retrieval work rather than concept teaching. Notice worried and shy, which are internal states with no obvious face — they are the hardest here and the last to arrive.
Carrying it home
Naming feelings during stories is the easiest home practice available. How does he feel, and how can you tell, takes ten seconds per page and needs no materials at all.
What's in this activity
- happy
- sad
- mad
- scared
- tired
- silly
- excited
- surprised
- proud
- shy
- calm
- worried
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Preschool through first grade, where emotion vocabulary is still being built.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve cards play with no account.
- Why teach emotion words in speech therapy?
- Because they are vocabulary, and because a child who can name a feeling has an alternative to showing it. Emotion words sit in both language and pragmatics goals for good reason.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.