A great way for children to start reflecting and thinking about their emotions is a feelings check-in board. These check-in boards help children regulate their emotions and process what their emotions mean. The first step is to identify their feelings and understand how these feelings can have a large impact on their behaviour and others. By recognizing their feelings, they can begin to manage and learn the tools needed to regulate and control their emotions. In this activity, children need to understand the 4 zones of regulation. The first zone is the blue zone, this zone often means you need to rest and relax because you may be sad, sick, tired, bored, or slow moving. Next is the green zone, which is the go zone. When in the green zone you may be happy, calm, feeling okay, focused or ready to learn. The following zone is the yellow zone which means you need to slow down. In this zone a child might be frustrated, worried, silly/wiggly, excited, or feeling a loss of control. Last is the red zone, which means you may be angry, terrified, yelling, hitting, or out of control. In this zone we need to begin to stop and reflect on what we are doing. Once children have understood the zones, they can learn how to regulate their emotions to get back to the green zone. For example, if a child realizes they are in the red zone they may want to take a moment alone to breath and calm down to return to the green zone. If they are in the yellow zone and are feeling wiggly and silly maybe they need to try something active to use up that energy they have.
This check in board can be easily made with a large sheet of paper and paper clips. You can make 4 sections, one for each zone, and then label the paper clips with the names of your family members. This board can be located in a common space such as the living room or kitchen so that everyone can check in and see where others are on the board. In the morning each member of the family can check in and move their assigned paper clip to how they are feeling. We encourage you to participate as well, as it will help kids understand both their emotions and your own. Once they have used the board a couple times, they will begin to understand why they may be in a zone and what they need to do to return to the green zone. Before you know it you will have a little professional emotion regulator in your house!
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