Warm up those face muscles because you are going to be stretching into Scared, Silly, Mad, Excited, Sad and Happy, with feeling. EQ or Emotional Intelligence is a hot topic these days as parents and educators realize the importance of teaching kids to identify and manage emotions. This clever game gets right to the point in a fun and engaging way. Turn the 27 gumball faces down on the game board, spin to a color, and slap the gumball mirror on a ball of your color. Pick it up so you can’t see it but others can as you guess at the emotion and make the appropriate face in the mirror. If you are correct, place that gumball on the scoreboard. If not, put it back on the gumball machine game board and remember where and what it is. Cooperatively, players try to fill the scoreboard before 3 Stink Faces are drawn. This game of memory, recognizing and imitating emotions, and sharing associated situations builds a child’s emotional vocabulary, helping him to recognize emotions in others as well as himself, building empathy and emotional health. Our little friend was prompted by “Excited” to say she is “Excited at school. ” This game makes language learning exciting!
Available at MindWare
