When we think about emotional awareness, we typically focus on situations that trigger negative emotions. But it’s also important that we identify and focus on the things that make us happy. By understanding both the positive and the negative, we become much more emotionally resilient.
In the lesson below, you will help your students improve their emotional awareness by thinking about what makes them happy or gives them a “happy heart.”
Younger students will identify 4 things that make them happy and write them onto puzzle pieces that can be cut out and assembled into a heart. Older students will write down things that make them happy using words that start with each letter of the alphabet.
Recommended Grade Level: Elementary
SEL Skill(s): Emotion Regulation, Empathy
Duration: 30 minutes
Materials:
- Worksheet for younger students (in person, or remote)
- Glue, paste, or tape
- Scissors
- Worksheet for older students
Emotional Awareness Lesson Directions
Ask your students to think about the things that make them happy. A few examples you can share as prompts are:
- Your best friend
- Going on vacation
- Listening to music
- A pet animal
- Playing outdoors
- Dessert
For your younger students, ask each of them to write down 4 things inside of the puzzle pieces on their worksheet. After they have listed the things that make them happy, have them cut out the pieces and paste, glue, or tape them onto another piece of paper to make a Heart.
Note: If you are doing this lesson with students remotely who do not have access to a printer and/or the materials, you can provide them with this version of the worksheet with the pieces already joined together in the shape of a heart.
For older students, share this worksheet. Ask them to write down as many words as they can that represent something that makes them happy using each letter of the alphabet.
After your students complete the exercise, ask each student to share at least one thing that makes them happy. In addition, consider adding this worksheet into your students’ Social Emotional Learning Journal.
Additional Resources
Books
- Listening with My Heart by Gabi Garcia
- A Thankful Heart Is a Happy Heart by BroadStreet Publishing
- My Heart by Corinna Luyken
Related Lessons and Programs