30 Emotional Regulation Activities For Toddlers and Preschoolers

Emotional regulation refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one's emotions in a way that is appropriate for the situation. It involves strategies and skills that help individuals control their emotional reactions, maintain balance, and respond to challenges constructively. The following article provides 30 fun and effective emotional regulation activities designed for children aged 2–4 years to help them understand and manage their feelings.

Feelings Flashcards: Use simple flashcards with faces showing different emotions like happy, sad, angry, and surprised. Ask the child to name the emotions and mimic the faces.
Calm-Down Bottles: Create a bottle filled with water, glitter, and glue. Shaking it helps children visually focus as the glitter settles, which can have a calming effect.
Deep Breathing Games: Teach deep breathing by pretending to blow up a balloon or blow out imaginary birthday candles.
Emotion Stories: Read picture books that focus on feelings, such as "The Color Monster" or "Today I Feel Silly." Pause to ask how the characters feel and why.
Sensory Play: Use sensory bins filled with rice, beans, or sand to help children relax and refocus their energy.
Music and Movement: Play calm or upbeat music and encourage children to dance or move. This helps them release energy and regulate emotions.
Feeling Wheel: Create a simple wheel with different emotions. Let the child spin it and talk about a time they felt that way.
Colouring for Calm: Give coloring books or blank paper and crayons to let children express themselves through art.
Emotion Matching Game: Use emotion cards and ask the child to match faces that look the same or to pick out how they’re feeling today.
Balloon Breathing: Pretend to inflate a balloon—take a deep breath and stretch your arms wide like a balloon expanding, then slowly release the air (and relax) as the balloon “deflates.”
Calm Corner: Create a cozy space with pillows, stuffed animals, and sensory toys where children can go to calm down when they feel overwhelmed.
Emotion Scavenger Hunt: Hide cards with different emotions around the room and guide the child to find and describe them.
Role Play with Toys: Use dolls, stuffed animals, or action figures to act out different scenarios and discuss emoti
ns involved.
Name the Feeling: During a real-life situation, gently ask the child to identify what they’re feeling and why, helping them build emotional vocabulary.
Bubble Blowing: Blow bubbles and watch them float away. This is both calming and a good way to teach controlled breathing.
Animal Movement Game: Pretend to move like animals (stomp like an elephant, hop like a bunny). It helps children channel energy and understand different emotional states like excitement or frustration.
Daily Check-In Chart: Have a simple chart with faces or colors representing emotions. Encourage the child to point to how they feel during the day.
Hug and Squeeze: Give them a big, warm hug or introduce a “squeeze toy” to help release tension.
Emotion Puppets: Create simple puppets with different facial expressions. Use them to act out scenarios and explore emotions together.
Squishy Stress Balls: Make stress balls using balloons filled with rice, flour, or play dough for children to squeeze when feeling frustrated or overwhelmed.
Nature Walks with Feelings: Go for a walk and ask the child how different elements of nature (trees, clouds, birds) might feel. For example, “How do you think the tree feels when the wind blows?”
Mirroring Game: Sit face-to-face and take turns mirroring each other’s facial expressions and movements. This helps children become aware of emotions and body language.
Feelings Collage: Provide magazines and let the child cut out pictures of people expressing different emotions. They can glue these into a collage and talk about each feeling.
Emotion Charades: Act out emotions and let the child guess what they are. They can take a turn acting them out too!
Body Scan Relaxation: Guide the child to lie down and “check in” with different parts of their body. Say, “Let’s see if your feet feel happy or tired,” and continue up the body.
Yoga for Little Ones: Try simple yoga poses like “cat-cow,” “child’s pose,” or “butterfly pose” to promote mindfulness and relaxation.
Paint Your Feelings: Provide paints and brushes and encourage the child to express their emotions by painting colors and shapes that represent their mood.
Blowing Feathers: Place a feather on their hand and challenge them to blow it gently into the air, teaching controlled breathing.
Warm/Cold Jars: Fill one jar with warm water and another with cold. Let the child hold each to understand different sensations and how they can calm their emotions.
Emotion Dice: Make a DIY dice with emotions on each side. Roll it and talk about that emotion, or share a moment they felt that way.

Importance Of Teaching Emotional Regulation To Young Children

Building Self-Control: It helps children manage their impulses and reactions, enabling them to respond to situations thoughtfully rather than emotionally.
Better Social Skills: When children understand and regulate their emotions, they are better equipped to interact with peers, share, take turns, and resolve conflicts.
Improved Academic Success: Emotional regulation enhances focus and resilience, which are critical for learning and adapting to new challenges in educational settings.
Reduced Stress: Children who can regulate their emotions are better at coping with frustrations and setbacks, leading to less anxiety and tantrums.
Healthy Relationships: Understanding emotions fosters empathy, helping children recognize and respect others' feelings, laying the foundation for strong relationships.
Life-Long Benefits: Emotional regulation learned at an early age contributes to emotional intelligence, better mental health, and overall success in adulthood.

For children, emotional regulation is a foundational skill that supports their ability to cope with frustration, handle social interactions, and express feelings in healthy ways. It's a process that develops gradually as they grow, influenced by guidance from parents, caregivers, and educators.