E-motion Cards

Created by Annie O’Brien, these emotion cards are a platform for teaching understanding, and recognition of emotions in self and others – suitable for parents, teachers, counsellors and carers.

There are 2 sets of 21 cards in your emotion cards. One set of large cards and another of smaller cards that sit inside the large cards when matched. The cards are targeted at two groups of children – 5-7, and 8-11 years old. They are colour coded for each age group and also colour coded for each emotion.

The large cards have “prompt” questions about each emotion. eg. What happens to you when you feel angry? This can get the child talking about what happens inside of them when they experience a particular emotion.

The next question asks what type of situations can cause them to feel that emotion. By encouraging children to talk about their feelings, we can model how to express their emotions more effectively, rather than in a destructive way.

The last prompt on the larger card is usually: “show me that feeling.” This is done by the child choosing one of the smaller photo cards that show the emotion. The smaller card then sits inside the large card with matching photo.

Once matched, the other side of the smaller photo  card offers possible solutions for handling their emotions. Over time, as the child is more comfortable with using the cards, they will remember some of these solutions without going back to them and enable children to draw upon this learning in emotional situations.

E-motion Cards are aligned with the Personal And Social Capabilities of the National Curriculum for the Australian Schools.