Help children, teenagers and adults make sense of difficult emotions with a simple feelings check-in they can return to when worries, anger, sadness or overwhelm feel hard to carry. Your Feelings Backpack offers a calm, visual emotional wellbeing prompt for home, school, counselling sessions and pastoral support.
At home after a difficult day, in a classroom wellbeing corner, or during a counselling conversation, this one-page feelings poster can give someone a manageable way to talk about what is going on inside. It uses the familiar idea of a backpack to show that emotions can feel light, heavy, or too much to carry alone.
Seven numbered prompts lead the reader through an emotional check-in: notice what they are carrying, name the feeling, consider how heavy or strong it feels, think about what they need, share what feels too heavy, be kind to themselves, and keep going one step at a time. Examples include feeling worried, angry, sad, excited or calm.
Practical self-care suggestions include taking slow breaths, moving the body, listening to music, having a drink, taking a break, doing something enjoyable, or speaking with a trusted person. The wording also normalises uncertainty, allowing someone to say they are not yet sure what they feel.
School staff, parents, foster carers, counsellors and therapists may find it particularly useful for children and young people who need visual emotion regulation support. It can be printed for a bedroom, nurture room, classroom, therapy space or family discussion, then used as a gentle conversation starter when a child, teen or adult is feeling overwhelmed.
