Fun Jingles To Teach Kids About Emotions

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Teach your kids all about emotions and how to deal with them with these fun jingles.

Did you go see Inside Out in theaters this summer? It was the first movie we took my boys to and they loved it! So as soon as I heard it was coming out on video I planned a trip to Walmart to pick up the DVD and I’m so glad I did. If you have little ones this is definitely a movie you should add to your collection. It has really helped my boys (especially my two year old) understand why they feel the way they do sometimes.

Rohrl, my three year old, has no issues telling me when he’s sad, mad, happy or scared. In fact he’s pretty dang good at telling me “Mom I’m sad because you won’t give me chocolate.” I hear that at least once a week. But sometimes, especially with the anger and disgust, he seems to think that if he tells me he feels that way it’s OK for him to throw a fit or hit. My two year old hasn’t quite got a grasp on his emotions so his typical response to anything other than joy and happiness is to throw himself on the floor and kick and scream until I pick him up. 

Last week both my boys had croup and we watched Inside Out about 100 times. It was fine by me because it’s still a new movie to me and the lessons it teaches are great. When I was at Walmart picking up their prescriptions I decided to surprise them with a few Inside Out Toys. They were so excited to play with them and watch The Console light up when the characters got close to it. They also would hold up a character when Ryley is acting a certain way; “Look Mom Ryley is angry!” and hold up Anger.

One thing I loved at the end of the movie is when Ryley had a certain emotion her parents reaction to that emotion (I know that’s totally generic but I don’t want to ruin the movie if you haven’t seen it). That’s when I thought it would be fun to create little sayings or jingles to help my boys know what to do when they feel a certain way. Instead of running away and crying when they are scared… “When you feel scared, don’t be afraid, Close Your Eyes and Find a Happy Place.” I made up little phrases for each one of the 5 emotions and shared them with my boys.

They thought it was funny to hear mom sing but it actually worked. For Joy I came up with “When you’re happy…don’t be afraid to show it…Put a smile on your face so everyone will know it.” Now every time they are happy they get a huge grin on their faces. It’s adorable. I also printed the jingles on cards. I would then sing the jingle and then ask them to take the card and put it to the emotion/character that it belongs to. This way they learned the acceptable reactions to each emotion and what you can do if you are feeling happy/sad/angry/scared/disgusted. You can print your copy of the cards here.

Now this week that my boys are feeling better I’m excited to see how they interact with their friends and if the little jingles stick with them. What ways do you have of teaching your kids about their emotions and how to act when they feel a certain way?