In a school pastoral room, family support session or home conversation, this child wellbeing poster can help adults put everyday emotional needs into simple words. It offers a clear visual prompt for parents, carers, teachers and social workers supporting children and young people who need safety, connection, reassurance and respectful boundaries.
Parents, foster carers, teachers, school counsellors and children’s social care professionals are the people most likely to find this children’s emotional needs poster useful. It is particularly suited to adults supporting kids, children or teenagers who are struggling with behaviour, confidence, relationships, belonging or feeling listened to.
The page sets out seven linked needs: feeling safe, loved, heard, understood and included, knowing they matter, and having clear, kind boundaries. Each need has a short explanation, such as being secure and protected, experiencing warmth and affection, having a voice, and feeling valued, seen and important.
A large heart divided into colour-coded sections makes the ideas easy to discuss without relying on lengthy text. Adults can print it for a classroom wall, nurture room, family meeting space, therapy office or contact centre, then use each section as a prompt for a gentle conversation about what a child needs more of.
The poster may also support parenting work, child-centred supervision, safeguarding conversations and emotional literacy activities. A practitioner could ask a child to identify which parts of the heart feel strongest or weakest, while carers can use the headings to reflect on routines, communication, affection, acceptance and consistent limits at home.
