Emotion Thermometer

Introduction (5 minutes)

• Welcome the participants
• Introduce yourself and the Ideas Box project (give your name, say that you work for the Ideas Box, explain that the Ideas Box is a centre that implement activities for the community to improve their access to knowledge and information).
• Ask them to introduce themselves (name and how they feel today)
• Introduce the activity: Today we are going to do an activity about emotions. We are going to understand our own emotions, learn to recognise them and how to calm down when we have a strong emotion.

Ice-breaking game (10 minutes)

• Make room so there is space for all participants to walk around safely without bumping into anything.
• Instruct participants to walk in the space. The participants must not run or touch each other. When the facilitator claps their hands, the participants must stop. The facilitator will clap twice to indicate that they can walk again.
• After two minutes of walk and stop, give some new instructions to the participants. The facilitator will say “now the floor is like …” and participants should demonstrate the reaction they would exhibit if that was real. For example, in reaction to: “now the floor is filled with glue”, participants should walk as if they were in a pot of glue.
• Try to change up the environment to allow participants to explore different emotions like: “Now the floor is: hot sand, thorns, flowers, chocolate, sliding, sharping…”. The facilitator can create new ideas. Keep doing it for five minutes, and change regularly the type of floor so the participants can express a large range of actions.

Main activity (70 minutes)

Part 1 – What is an emotion? (20 minutes)

• Explain and discuss with the participants: Emotions are the things that we feel or our “feelings.” Can anyone tell us what are the different types of feelings?

Note: If they are struggling, ask them how they feel if someone cooks their favorite food or if someone takes away their favorite food, or if someone says a compliment or something means.

• Explain: Being happy, sad, scared, surprised, angry, proud are all feelings. They are not the only ones. Ask the participants if they know the definition of each of those words. Let the participants share their definitions. If they do not know or need more precisions, you can give them the following definitions:
  • Happy: feeling pleasure or contentment.
  • Sad: affected by unhappiness or grief; sorrowful or mournful
  • Scared: being in a state of fear, nervousness, panic, being afraid, being really worried about something too
  • Surprised: feeling surprised when something unexpected happens, it can be both good or bad, depending on the circumstances
  • Angry: feeling strong annoyance, displeasure, or hostility, sometimes not being able to think properly
  • Proud: feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of our own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone we are closed like a friend or a family member. To not be mistaken with arrogance (having an exaggerated sense of our own importance or abilities).

Emotions are universal, and yet they can differ from one person to another. A movie can make me happy while it makes my neighbor sad. Emotions are not facts! Example: the sun is in the sky, that’s a fact. It can bring me joy because I enjoy a sunny day, while it brings anger to my friend who is too hot.

• Explain: Emotions can also tell us when something is wrong if we are happy, or when we do not trust someone. Knowing and listening to our own emotions is very important. Sometimes we are trying to control our emotions and they express themselves in another way, that can be hurtful to ourselves or others. This can be harmful to us. We should be encouraged to express our emotions in a way that is healthy for us and those around us. Example: when we have been hurt by someone, our anger can lead to aggression.
• Discuss together: What does being sad feel like or look like in our bodies? (For example, tears, trembling lips, frowning.). And what does being happy feel like or look like in our bodies? (For example, smiling, arms open, and standing tall).

 

Part 2 – Identify my emotions (15 minutes)

 

• Make a circle with the participants and invite everybody to sit down.
• Explain: Sometimes it can be difficult to understand our emotions as they are happening, especially when we have different ones at the same time. So we are going to play a game to make our emotions easier to understand.
• Take the Emotion thermometer and put it in the middle of the circle. Explain that emotions are like the weather. When we are angry, we get really hot, like at the top of the thermometer. When we are happy or relaxed, we cool down, like at the bottom of the thermometer.
• Explain to the participants that you are going to read several statements. For each statement, the participants have to point on the thermometer in which emotional state they will be if the statement happened to them. All the participants may not agree on which emotion is the good one. It is normal because we are all different and we all react differently to the same situation. One situation can create several emotions: ask them which one would be the biggest for them.
• Read the following statements:
  • Somebody smacks you.
  • Someone, you don’t know very well but you think can become a friend in the future asks to spend time with you.
  • A stranger makes you feel uncomfortable by the way he/she acts.
  • You did really well at a task or a job you had to do.
  • You want to go to your friend, but your family won’t let you.
  • You just ate your favorite meal.
  • Someone ruined your favorite clothes.
• Discuss all together: Was it difficult to make a choice among the different emotions? Why? Do you think using the Emotion thermometer can make it easier for you to identify your emotions in the future?

 

Part 3 – How to handle strong emotions? (20 minutes)

 

• Explain: When people are angry, very sad, or have other strong emotions, they can feel so overwhelmed that it is hard to make decisions. Sometimes we say something mean to someone we love, or we become very quiet. We know it is ok to be angry or have other strong emotions and feelings, but it can also be harmful when we do not express them properly. There are things we can do to make our emotions easier to deal with.
• Ask the participants: What are some of the things we can do to handle strong emotions? Give some time to the participants so that they can all express their techniques to handle strong emotions.

If the participants have no idea, you can give some examples as I count to 10; I walk away from a discussion or argument to calm down and then come back to it later; I sing or listen to a song I really like to help me to relax; I share my feelings with someone that I trust; I put my feelings into words, I do a physical activity to calm me down.

After giving the examples, give some time to the participants to express their own techniques of handling strong emotions.

 

Part 4 – Breathe to relax (15 minutes)

 

• Explain to the participants that you are going to show them a way to relax if they are in a stressful situation or if they cannot handle a strong emotion. It is a breathing activity, it has to be done slowly.
• Describe the following steps to the participants:
  • First, close your eyes
  • Then, let your body relax a bit. Reach up, high above your head, stretching your arms, stretching your body very tall. And then let your arms relax. Place them at your sides, loosely.
  • Do the same thing again, but this time, breathe in as you reach up. Stretch…. and now breathe out as you relax and place your arms at your sides.
  • One more stretch, arms up, breathing in… and relax, arms down, breathing out. Just stand now, letting your arms rest at your sides. Keep breathing deeply and slowly.
  • Ask the participants how they feel after doing this exercise. Do they think it can help them when they have a strong emotion to handle? Let them discuss it and give examples of everyday life situations where this exercise can be useful.

 

Conclusion (5 minutes)

• Conclude the activity by a summary of what we learnt today: We learnt about emotions and how to recognise the signs of emotions on our body. We learnt how to put emotion on the Emotion thermometer and we learnt a breathing exercise to calm down. Even if you do not always have the Emotion thermometer on a paper with you, you can always imagine it on your head and use it to evaluate the emotion you are feeling. Take a step back, and ask yourself: what am I feeling right now? What is the strongest emotion that I am feeling? What can I do to help me welcome it and not be controlled by it?
• Thank the participants for their involvement in the activity
• Invite the participants to visit the Ideas Box centre during free time to use the content or to join a course in the future, to learn more new things.