Naming basic emotions
Name common feelings, including happy, sad, angry, scared, excited and surprised. Use facial expressions, body movements and what happened as clues, while recognising that asking the person helps us understand their feeling.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Label at least five basic emotions from pictures or real situations
- Match facial expressions to emotion words in a sorting activity
- Say 'I feel ___' using a feeling word to describe their own day
1 · Read
Happy means feeling good or pleased. Sad can mean feeling upset about a loss. Angry can mean feeling upset about something unfair. Scared means feeling afraid. Excited means looking forward to something. Surprised means something happened that you did not expect.
A smile or laugh can be a happy clue. Tight fists and a frown can be angry clues. Tears can be a sad clue, but people can cry with other feelings too. Faces and bodies give clues. They do not tell us for sure how someone feels.
Mia cannot find her toy. Her eyes are wet. You ask how she feels. Mia says, 'I feel sad. I miss my toy.' Her words help you understand the feeling.
To name your own feeling, say, 'I feel happy' or 'I feel scared.' Happy and scared are feeling words. Jump is an action word. A chair is a thing. Use a feeling word after 'I feel.'
Name your feeling with 'I feel ___.' Use clues to understand others, and ask how they feel.
Resource curation by the dataset authors.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.