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Emotion Detectives: What's the Feeling?

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Lesson Plan

Emotion Detectives: What's the Feeling?

Students will be able to identify and name basic emotions (happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared) in themselves and others.

Understanding and naming emotions is a fundamental step in developing self-awareness and social skills. For students with Autism and Developmental Delay, this foundation is vital for communication, self-regulation, and navigating social interactions more effectively.

Audience

3rd-5th Grade Students (Tier 2 Small Group: Autism and Developmental Delay)

Time

30 minutes

Approach

Through interactive discussion, a hands-on activity, a fun game, and individual reflection, students will explore and practice identifying different emotional expressions.

Materials

Prep

Prepare Materials

15 minutes

Step 1

Warm-Up: How Are You Feeling?

5 minutes

  • Begin with the Emotion Detectives Warm-Up by asking each student how they are feeling today and why. Encourage them to use an emotion word. (e.g., "I feel happy because the sun is shining!")
  • Acknowledge and validate all responses.

Step 2

Discussion: What Do Emotions Look Like?

7 minutes

  • Facilitate a discussion using the Emotion Detectives Discussion Prompts.
  • Focus on discussing how different emotions might look on our faces and in our bodies (e.g., "When someone is angry, what might their face look like?").
  • Emphasize that it's okay to feel all emotions.

Step 3

Activity: Feeling Faces

8 minutes

  • Introduce the Feeling Faces Activity.
  • Provide students with paper and drawing supplies.
  • Instruct them to draw faces depicting different emotions (e.g., happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared) as you name them. Circulate and provide support.
  • Discuss the drawings briefly, highlighting similarities and differences.

Step 4

Game: Emotion Match

5 minutes

  • Play the Emotion Match Game.
  • Show emotion cards and have students identify the emotion or match it to a drawn face. This can be done as a group or in pairs.

Step 5

Worksheet: My Feeling Check-In

3 minutes

  • Distribute the Emotion Check-In Worksheet.
  • Have students complete the worksheet, drawing a face for a specific emotion and writing (or dictating) what makes them feel that way. Provide assistance as needed.

Step 6

Cool-Down: One New Feeling

2 minutes

  • Conclude with the Emotion Detectives Cool-Down.
  • Ask students to share one new emotion word they learned or one thing they will remember about emotions.
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Warm Up

Emotion Detectives Warm-Up

Instructions: Let's get our emotion detective hats on! We're going to start by checking in with our own feelings.

  1. How are you feeling right now? Choose one word to describe your feeling (e.g., happy, calm, tired, excited).



  2. Can you tell us why you are feeling that way?



(Teacher Note: Encourage each student to share and validate all feelings. For students who struggle with verbal expression, provide visual aids or allow them to point to an emotion chart.)

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Discussion

Emotion Detectives Discussion Prompts

Instructions: Let's talk about feelings! Your teacher will ask some questions, and we'll share our ideas.

Prompt 1: Happy Faces

  • What does a happy face look like? (Think about eyes, mouth, eyebrows.)
  • What kind of things make you feel happy?

Prompt 2: Sad Feelings

  • How can we tell if someone is feeling sad just by looking at their face or body?
  • What might make someone feel sad?

Prompt 3: Angry Clues

  • If someone is angry, what clues might their face or body give us?
  • Is it okay to feel angry? What are some safe ways to show anger?

Prompt 4: Surprised and Scared

  • What's the difference between a surprised face and a scared face?
  • Can you think of a time you were surprised? What about scared?

(Teacher Note: Encourage students to demonstrate facial expressions and body language for each emotion. Provide examples if students struggle to generate ideas. Remind students there are no right or wrong answers.)

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Activity

Feeling Faces Activity

Instructions: Today, we are going to be artists and draw different feelings!

Materials: Paper, crayons/markers

  1. Draw a Happy Face! On your paper, draw a face that shows someone feeling happy. What does it look like?











  2. Draw a Sad Face. Now, draw a face that shows someone feeling sad.











  3. Draw an Angry Face. Next, draw a face that shows someone feeling angry.











  4. Draw a Surprised Face. Can you draw a face that looks surprised?











  5. Draw a Scared Face. Finally, draw a face that shows someone feeling scared.











(Teacher Note: Circulate and provide support. Encourage students to add details like eyebrows, tears, or sweat drops to enhance their expressions. Discuss the variety of ways emotions can be expressed.)

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Game

Emotion Match Game

Instructions: Let's play a game to see how well we can match feelings!

Materials: Emotion Cards (pictures of faces showing different emotions: happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared; and separate cards with the emotion words: Happy, Sad, Angry, Surprised, Scared).

How to Play (Option 1: Group Match)

  1. Your teacher will hold up an Emotion Card with a picture of a face.
  2. As a group, call out what emotion you think the face is showing.
  3. Then, your teacher will show the word card for that emotion.
  4. Let's see if we were right!

How to Play (Option 2: Memory Match - Pairs/Small Group)

  1. Lay all the Emotion Picture Cards and Emotion Word Cards face down in rows.
  2. Players take turns flipping over two cards.
  3. If the picture card and the word card match (e.g., a happy face and the word "Happy"), the player keeps the pair.
  4. If they don't match, flip them back over.
  5. The player with the most pairs at the end wins!

(Teacher Note: For Option 1, ensure all students have an opportunity to participate. For Option 2, provide assistance as needed to help students recognize matches. Consider starting with fewer emotion pairs if students are new to matching games.)

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Worksheet

Emotion Check-In Worksheet

Instructions: Let's practice checking in with our feelings!

  1. Draw a face for HAPPY. Draw a face that shows someone feeling HAPPY.






  2. What makes you feel HAPPY? Write or tell your teacher one thing that makes you feel happy.



  3. Draw a face for SAD. Draw a face that shows someone feeling SAD.






  4. What makes you feel SAD sometimes? Write or tell your teacher one thing that makes you feel sad.



  5. Draw a face for ANGRY. Draw a face that shows someone feeling ANGRY.






  6. What makes you feel ANGRY sometimes? Write or tell your teacher one thing that makes you feel angry.



(Teacher Note: Provide support with drawing and writing as needed. For students with fine motor challenges, allow them to verbally describe the emotion or choose from pre-drawn faces.)

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Cool Down

Emotion Detectives Cool-Down

Instructions: Let's reflect on what we learned about emotions today!

  1. Name one new emotion word you learned today, or one emotion you thought about more carefully.



  2. Why is it important to know about different emotions?



(Teacher Note: Encourage all students to share. This helps reinforce the learning objective and provides an informal assessment of understanding.)

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