Mood Cube Activity & Printable
By: Emily Hawkins
Whether you’re feeling silly, sleepy, or super-duper happy, every emotion is an adventure. Big feelings are part of being a kid, but sometimes it can be hard to name what the emotion is. This craft turns big feelings into a game for the whole family.
By building and playing with the Mood Cube, you and your kid can explore what different emotions look like and how we can use kindness to help ourselves and our friends feel better.
Download Mood Cube Printable Activity
How to Make the Mood Cube
Option 1: Print, Cut, Fold, and Tape
Download and print the Kindness Connections Mood Cube Template on sturdy paper or cardstock. Cut out the template along the edges. Fold along the lines to form the cube and secure the edges with tape.
Option 2: Draw, Cut, Fold, and Tape
Open the Mood Cube template. Following the same layout, draw faces with clear emotion and label each. Alternatively, cut out faces with clear emotion from magazines and tape them to the cubes. Cut along the borders. Fold along the lines to form the cube and secure the edges with tape.
Playful Learning With the Mood Cube
Understanding the Basics: Discussion and Role Play
Discuss with your little one what each emotion is. What does it look like when expressed? Why might someone express a given emotion? Take turns acting out each emotion. Use puppets or stuffed animals as preferred.
Kindness Learning
For each emotion, discuss if something kind or unkind would prompt someone to feel the emotion. For happier emotions, ask what might allow one to keep feeling that positive emotion or help spread it to others. For the more challenging emotions, discuss the kinds of calming or coping strategies one could use to feel better, such as taking 10 slow breaths or cuddling with a favorite stuffed animal
Math
Roll the Mood Cube and write down which emotion lands face up each time. After rolling it several times, ask your child to add up how many times each emotion landed face up. Which emotion landed the most times? The least times?
Literacy
Keep your Mood Cube close by when reading books to your child. Encourage your child to interrupt each time one of the cube’s emotions appears in the book and discuss what prompted the emotion. If your child misses one of the emotions, pause to ask questions and encourage thinking and sharing.
Movement
When an emotion is rolled, together with your child express it through dance or movement. Discuss together why a movement represents an emotion, which encourages vocabulary development.
Explore emotions and how we can use kindness to help ourselves and our friends feel
Emily Hawkins is the General Manager of Early Learning at Highlights for Children. With more than a decade at the company, she leads its early learning initiative, supporting providers and families with supplemental curriculum and family engagement solutions, and serves as the primary external partner to community and education organizations.
