Emotions Coloring Pages

• One feeling per page: a large face showing happy, sad, angry, scared, surprised or calm, with the word underneath
• Feelings chart: twelve small labeled faces on one sheet for the wall or a calm-down corner
• Blank face: an empty head outline where a child draws the eyes, eyebrows and mouth
• Body clues: a frustrated kid with crossed arms, a shy kid peeking from behind a door and an excited kid jumping
• Check-in sheet: a page that says "Today I feel" with a face to draw and a line to write on
• Feelings thermometer: a tall gauge to color from calm at the bottom to very upset at the top
• Weather feelings: sunny and stormy pictures as a gentler way to describe a mood
• Breathing star: a five-point star to trace with a finger while breathing in and out

Teach the vocabulary. Start with four feelings: happy, sad, angry and scared. Most three- and four-year-olds can learn to recognize those. Add surprised, proud, shy, frustrated, worried and calm as children get older.

Read the face. Before coloring, ask what the eyebrows, eyes and mouth are doing. Angry eyebrows point down toward the nose. Surprised eyebrows lift and the mouth opens. Sad mouths turn down. Kids who can spot these clues on paper get better at spotting them on people.

Let color mean something. Ask a child to choose a color for each feeling and explain why. There's no correct answer. One kid's angry is red and another's is black.

Daily check-in. In many classrooms, students color or circle a face when they arrive. It takes a minute and tells a teacher who might need a quiet word.

After a hard moment. Once a child is calm, the blank face page lets them draw how they felt. For a lot of kids that's easier than talking. Follow up with, "What could help next time?"

The thermometer. Color more sections as feelings get bigger. Pair each level with a strategy, such as taking a drink of water, squeezing a pillow or asking for a hug.

School counselors, speech therapists and parents all use pages like these as a starting point for conversation. If a child seems sad, worried or angry most of the time, bring it up with a pediatrician or school counselor.