Special Thanks

Rev. Michelle King for curating this playlist

Need something else?

Need another resource? Looking for advice? Please contact Kathy Pittenger.

Feelings Wheel

This wheel shows a lot of feelings, starting with the basic ones in the center and getting more complex as you move out to the edges. You can use this wheel with older children who want to go deeper and learn more specific words for complex emotions.

Exploring Emotions with Young Children

If you have preschoolers or younger children, you may want to use the Bible Story and then explore the Exploring Emotions topic from Sesame Street. Including this great Feeling Faces printable.

Additional Resources for Parents/Caregivers

How to Raise Happy Kids for Success in Life (10 tips)

Joy

Joy is such a wonderful emotion! Sometimes joy is big and loud and looks like dancing, laughing, and having fun! Other times joy is quieter and looks like snuggling with a loved one, finding shapes in the clouds, or reading a good book. In this Bible story David is so happy to finally bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem that he celebrates by dancing in the streets – not caring about what people thought of him! All emotions come and go, they don’t last forever, so treasure the moments of joy when they come and thank God for them!

Bible Story

Read the story about David dancing as God’s chest was brought into Jerusalem in your favorite Bible Story Book, in the Deep Blue Bible Storybook, or in 2 Samuel 6:1-19 . Wonder about the story together
Wonder about the story together:
- I wonder why David was so happy
- I wonder what people thought when they saw David dancing in the streets
- I wonder if Jesus ever laughed or danced
- I wonder what makes you happy
- I wonder what you do when you’re happy

Prayer:

Dear God, we have so much to be happy about and grateful for! Thank you for (name some things that have made you happy recently or that you’re grateful for). Help us to find moments of joy everyday and help us to share our joy with others. Amen.

If you want to dig in deeper to the Bible story, go to the David Dances playlist!

Activities

Choose one or more of the activities to do with your family to explore the big emotion of joy!

1. Don’t Smile Game – Pick one person who will try to keep a straight face – no smiling or laughing. Have everyone else take turns trying to make that person smile or laugh, whoever gets them to smile/laugh is the winner and the next person to have to keep a straight face. Another variation is to have a staring contest where neither person can smile or laugh, whoever can keep a straight face the longest is the winner! It’s harder than you think to not laugh when you’re trying not to laugh!

2. Make a Happy List – Make a list of games and activities that you have fun doing and that make you happy! Then pick something from the list and do it! Next time you’re bored or need cheering up you can look at this list and pick one of the activities to do.

3. 13 Most Popular Gratitude Exercises and Activities – Cultivating gratitude in our lives has been shown to have many benefits, including increased happiness. Do some of these activities with your kids to help them practice gratitude, and don’t forget to thank God for all of the things you’re grateful for! You have to scroll down a bit to get to the list of activities.

4. Random Acts of Kindness – It feels good to do things for other people. Try doing some random acts of kindness whenever you can. Here are 100 ideas of acts of kindness that kids can do.