Activities to Strengthen Your Emotional Muscles

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Activities to Strengthen Your Emotional Muscles

April 20, 2020

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Children and adults alike experience a wide array of complex emotions, and regardless of age, emotions can be hard to identify and express. Like a muscle in our body, we have an emotional muscle that continues to stretch and strengthen as we grow.

One important way we can strengthen our emotional muscle is to take time in our day to think intentionally about our emotional well-being, for example:

  • How am I feeling today?
  • What have I done recently to take care of myself?
  • What emotions am I feeling right now, and why might I be feeling those emotions?

Children are developing and strengthening these social and emotional skills as they learn how to identify and express their emotions in positive and constructive ways. These skills continue to be built upon and strengthened throughout their lifetime. Because of this, it’s beneficial for the whole family to practice emotional expression.

And great news, there are many fun activities that you can do at home that can help everyone in the family strengthen their emotional muscles! One example is putting a twist on the classic tune “If you’re happy and you know it” by changing each verse to reflect a different emotion. Check out our video below!

Another hands-on activity is building facial expressions using playdough.

Grab a piece of sturdy paper and cut out a face-sized oval. Next, add some hair using yarn or paper. Then use playdough to build the facial features, molding them to reflect different emotions. If you’d like a homemade playdough recipe, we’ve got one right here!

Have fun sharing, dancing, singing, building, and creating with the whole family and you will be flexing those emotional muscles in no time!