Mirror, Mirror Warm-Up

Objective:
Help students practice noticing and reproducing facial and body cues to identify different emotions.

Materials:

• A set of emotion prompt cards (examples below)
• Optional: small hand‐held mirrors if available

Instructions:

1. Pair up students. Each pair sits or stands facing each other.
2. Demonstrate one emotion. Teacher holds up a card or names an emotion (e.g., “Surprised”).
3. Act & mirror. Student A makes that emotion’s face and body posture. Student B mirrors exactly, then says the emotion name aloud.
4. Switch roles. Student B draws or is assigned a new emotion; Student A mirrors and names it.
5. Continue for 5–7 rounds. Encourage students to exaggerate cues (eyebrows, mouth shape, shoulders) to make them clear.

Emotion Prompt Cards (examples):

• Happy
• Sad
• Angry
• Surprised
• Confused
• Scared
• Proud
• Excited

After the rounds, invite a few volunteers to come to the front and lead the game with a new emotion of their choice. This quick warm-up gets everyone tuned into noticing visual cues before diving deeper into our emotional detective work!

Emotion Charades Activity

Objective:
Students will practice recognizing and naming emotions by acting them out and observing peers’ facial expressions and body language.

Materials:

• Emotion prompt slips or cards (e.g., Happy, Sad, Proud, Worried, Excited, Confused, Scared)
• A container or bag to hold slips

Instructions:

1. Form small groups. Divide students into groups of 4–5.
2. Draw a prompt. Each group places their emotion slips in a container.
3. Act it out. One student in the group draws a slip and acts out the emotion silently (no words, only facial/body cues).
4. Guess the emotion. Group members watch and guess aloud which emotion is being shown.
5. Discuss clues. After a correct guess, ask:
   • What facial cues did you notice?
   • What body movements helped you decide?
6. Rotate roles. Continue rotating so each student gets a turn acting and guessing.
7. Repeat! Play 3–4 rounds or until time is up.

Reflection (Whole Class):

• Which emotion was easiest to guess? Why?
  
  
  
• Which emotion was hardest? What cues were tricky?
  
  
  
• How can noticing these facial and body cues help us understand others in real life?
  
  
  
  
  
  

Feeling Check-In Cool-Down

Objective:
Help students reflect on what they learned about emotions and empathy today.

Materials:

• Reflection sheet or drawing paper
• Crayons or colored pencils

Instructions:

1. Circle Share (3 minutes):
   • Sit in a circle.
   • Invite each student to name one emotion they noticed in a classmate during today’s activities and describe the clue (face or body) that helped them recognize it.
2. Individual Reflection (7 minutes):
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   • Prompt 3: Think about empathy: How did recognizing emotions help you connect with someone else today?
   • Hand out reflection sheets or have students open their emotion journals.
   • Prompt 1: Draw or write one emotion you felt today.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
   • Prompt 2: Explain why you chose that emotion and what clue (your facial expression, body posture, or someone else’s cue) made you notice it.
3. Wrap-Up (2 minutes):
   • Ask a few volunteers to share their reflections.
   • Reinforce that paying attention to facial cues and body language helps us understand and support each other.

Key Takeaway: Being emotion detectives makes our classroom kinder and more connected!