May is Mental Health Awareness Month and there’s never a better time to get kids in touch with their feelings and the feelings of those around them.Â
The Emotional Wellness Playbook from Genius of Play encourages parents and educators to help kids dive into an emotional adventure with enlightening, play-based activities. The Toy Association’s nonprofit initiative developed the digital play-based activity book to give kids ages 3 and up the tools to gain an interest in mental wellness. There are 12 activities that hone five core components of emotional intelligence: emotional self-awareness, empathy, motivation, social skills, and self-regulation.
Coloring pages | Source: Genius of Play
Make a Vision Board activity page | Source: The Genius of Play
Kids can label different emotions in Emoji Bingo, practice self-regulation with Calming Bottles, get a deeper understanding of empathy with Puppet Play, and discover self-confidence with the Vision Board. The playbook also includes coloring activities and other games such as Color My Feelings, Emotions Word Mix, and Emoji Color By Number.
The Emotional Wellness Playbook is a free, downloadable resource that is available for parents and educators to print out at thegeniusofplay.org. Kids can carry it and play wherever they go — from the bus, to class, to their playroom!
