If someone were to ask what you want most for your children, it is very likely that you would reply, “I just want my children to be happy.” Feeling “happy” is the overall feeling that things are going well in our lives and we are content. It is not a bad thing to want our kids to feel happy. However, often we as parents want our children to feel “happy” all of the time. Ironically, in order to raise kids who feel happy, we need to let them have a chance to talk about and experience all emotions in positive ways.

That means we need to make time to listen, understand and allow our children to feel all of their feelings. Doing this helps children feel valued and understood. So we want to encourage you throughout this week’s treasure hunt to not only notice and talk about “happy” feelings, but also to take time to review “calm” and “angry” and to notice the many other feelings all around you. 

Keep in mind, our children absorb everything from us, so our moods matter! If we want our children to feel happy, another thing we need to do is to make sure we are attending to our own happiness. Make time to do things that make you feel happy and you will be better able to help your children feel happy.

Pot o’ Gold... 

• Find a small pot or jar and decorate it if you wish.

• Find something small that can be the “gold” to add to your “pot” such as pennies, gummies, fish crackers, etc.

• During the week, each time you notice or talk about feeling “happy” be sure to add a piece of “gold” to the pot. 

• At the end of the week, you can count/eat the “gold” as you reflect on the “happy” feelings that you noticed all week long.

NOTICE and LABEL Happy Throughout the Week...

• Watch for times when your child looks like they are feeling happy. Talk about how they feel and why? What does their face look like? What does their body feel like?

• Notice times when you yourself feel happy and “talk aloud” about it with your child. Talk about what has made you feel happy. Point out how your face looks and how your body looks and feels when you are feeling happy.

• Don’t forget to notice and talk about characters on TV and in books who are feeling happy! Ask your children how they know the character is happy and why they think they might be feeling happy.  

Activities

Sing a “Happy” Song…

Who Feels Happy Today?
(Sung to the tune of Hush Little Baby Don’t You Cry)

Who feels happy today?
All who do, snap your fingers this way.

Who feels happy today?
All who do, clap your hands this way.

Who feels happy today?
All who do, wink your eyes this way.

Who feels happy today?
All who do, fold your hands this way.

Have fun with this and encourage your child to add more happy moves to the song!

Play “Happy Hot Potato” Game…

• Make a smiley face out of foam, paper plate or even just paper.

• Sit on the floor together.

• Play music or sing a song (If your Happy and You Know It). 

• As the music plays pass the happy face around or back and forth. 

• Stop the music and whomever had the smiley face chooses a partner.

• That person does whatever it takes to make his/her partner Smile.

This game can be loads of fun and get everyone laughing and feeling happy! Make sure that you notice and label the happy faces you see during this activity.

more activities

Make a Collage of Happy Faces...

• Put out all sorts of magazines and newspapers, scissors, glue and paper.

• Ask the children to cut out only pictures of smiles/happy faces.

• Have them glue the pictures they find onto paper or poster board.

• As your children find “happy” faces encourage them to make up stories about why the person in the picture is feeling happy.  

• Challenge your child to fill the whole page with “happy faces.”

Happy Face Craft...

• Provide materials such as paper plates, buttons, yarn, raisins, paper, Popcorn, beads, etc.

• Smile at your children and ask them to tell you what your mouth and eyes look like when you are happy.

• Encourage your children to create a face that looks happy by gluing materials onto the paper plate.

Make a Happy Board…

• Provide your child with a large piece of construction paper or poster board. Or you might tape several pieces of paper together.

• Gather some magazines, scissors, glue and drawing materials.

• Help your child to think about things that make them feel happy.

• Then encourage your child to try to find pictures in magazines/newspapers or draw pictures of things/experiences that make them feel happy.

Play dough Feeling Mat…

• Gather play dough, a mirror, paper bags, plates, and/or construction paper.

• Draw the outline of a head on a paper plate, paper bag or construction paper.

• If you have access to a laminator you might laminate your face outline to use over and over again.  Or you might try contact paper, clear packaging tape or using a large plastic baggie or page protector to protect the face.  If you don’t have a way to protect the face outline just make a new one the next time you want to do the activity. 

• Provide a mirror and encourage your child to smile. Talk about what their mouth and eyes look like when they are smiling and feeling happy and encourage them to create a happy face on their play dough face mat.

• Try this same activity creating faces that look calm and angry as a review of previous emotions.  Be sure to talk about how faces and bodies look and feel as well as times when your child has felt these emotions.

Feelings Book…

• Talk with your child about times when they felt happy.

• Show each other what your happy face looks like.

• Either take a picture of your child’s happy face and print it or have your child draw her happy face. (Use a mirror if your child is going to draw his/her face.)

• Protect the picture by slipping it into a plastic baggie (quart size works well).

• You can also make calm and angry face pages to add to your book.

• As you learn about new emotions don’t forget to add those pages to your book.

• Read your feelings book often.  Try to help your child remember times when they felt that feeling and share times when you felt the same way.