This downloadable PDF is a colourful board game that helps children explore and talk about emotions in a simple and engaging way. It introduces a wide range of feelings, such as happy, excited, calm, proud, worried, shy, sad, angry, confused, frustrated and many more. The game uses friendly animal characters and bright visuals, which makes it easy for younger children, older children and young people to recognise emotions and build emotional awareness.
This resource is useful for children who need support with understanding feelings, managing emotions and building social and communication skills. It can help children who experience anxiety, low confidence, behaviour difficulties, emotional overwhelm or challenges linked to ASD. The game encourages children to slow down, name what they feel and build emotional language in a safe and playful way.
The Feelings Adventure board game is suitable for parents, carers, teachers, social workers, foster carers, adoptive parents, counsellors, therapists and other professionals who support children and young people. It works well in one to one sessions, small groups or family work.
What the resource includes
The printable PDF includes a full colour emotions board game with a clear start and finish point. Each square shows an emotion with a matching animal illustration, which helps children link feelings with visual cues.
Suggestions for how to play
• Print the board and use simple counters.
• Use a dice to move along the path.
• When a child lands on a feeling, ask them to describe a time when they felt this way.
• Invite them to explain what happened, how their body felt and what helped them cope.
• Younger children can point to the facial expression and copy it.
• Older children and teens can link the emotion to a real life situation or a behaviour they notice in themselves.
• Adults can join in to model healthy emotional language.
• You can use the board as a conversation starter rather than a competitive game when this suits the child better.
