Young children feel big feelings long before they have the words to describe them. Drawing and coloring give them another way in: a stormy scribble, a bright yellow sun or a picture of "me when I was cross" can say a lot. You don't need to be an artist or an expert to use art this way. With a few simple, low-pressure activities, parents and teachers can help children aged 3 to 8 notice, name and talk about their feelings. This guide shares practical ideas, age-by-age tips and the kinds of questions that open up a conversation.
Why Art Helps Children Talk About Feelings
Talking face to face about emotions can feel intense for a small child. Drawing side by side is gentler. Their hands are busy, nobody has to make eye contact, and the picture gives you both something to point at and talk about.
Art also gives children:
- A way to show what they can't yet say. A three-year-old may not know the word "frustrated", but they can scribble hard and fast in red.
- Time to slow down. Choosing colors and filling in shapes is calming for many children.
- A sense of control. On paper, they decide what happens, which color things are and how the story ends.
- A starting point for conversation. "Tell me about this part" is easier than "How do you feel?"
The aim isn't to analyze children's drawings or read hidden meanings into them. It's simply to give feelings a little more space and a few more words.
Start With a Simple Feelings Vocabulary
Before the art, help children build a small set of feeling words. Start with four or five and add more over time.
- Ages 3–4: happy, sad, cross (angry), scared, tired
- Ages 5–6: add excited, worried, proud, lonely, calm, surprised
- Ages 7–8: add frustrated, embarrassed, nervous, disappointed, jealous, grateful
Use these words in everyday moments, not just during art time: "You look proud of that tower!" or "I feel a bit frustrated that the bus is late."
Seven Feelings Art Activities
1. Color My Feelings
Give your child a simple outline — a person shape, a heart or a big circle. Ask them to choose a color for each feeling they had today and fill in as much space as that feeling took up. There are no wrong answers. One child's "happy" is yellow; another's is purple.
Good questions: "Which color is the biggest today?" "What made that part happen?"
2. Feelings Faces Chart
Fold a sheet of paper into four or six boxes. In each box, draw a simple circle face and talk about what eyebrows, eyes and mouths do when we feel happy, sad, surprised or cross. Children can copy your faces, invent their own, or use mirrors to check their own expressions.
For younger children, keep it to two or three faces. Older children can add tricky ones like "nervous" or "embarrassed".
3. Weather Inside Me
Ask, "If your feelings were weather today, what would they be?" Sunny, rainy, windy, foggy, a rainbow after rain? Children draw their "inside weather". It's a gentle, indirect way to talk about mood that most children grasp quickly.
4. Scribble It Out, Then Color It In
When a child is frustrated, offer a big sheet of paper and a thick crayon. Let them scribble as hard and fast as they want. When they've finished, invite them to find shapes in the scribble and color them in slowly. Many children find the change from fast to slow helps them settle.
5. Draw a Calm Place
Ask children to draw a place where they feel safe and calm: their bed, a grandparent's garden, the beach, a cozy reading corner. Keep the picture somewhere they can see it, and suggest they look at it when they need a quiet moment.
6. Feelings Story Strip
Divide a strip of paper into three boxes: beginning, middle and end. Children draw something that happened (a toy broke), how they felt (sad), and what helped (a hug, fixing it together). This shows that feelings change and that there are things we can do when they are hard.
7. Character Feelings
Read a picture book together, then pause and ask, "How do you think the bear feels here?" Children draw the character's face or the part of the story with the biggest feeling. Talking about a character's emotions is often easier than talking about their own.
Age-by-Age Tips
Ages 3–4
- Keep activities very short — five to ten minutes is plenty.
- Use thick crayons and big paper so scribbling feels good.
- Name the feeling for them, gently: "That looks like a big, cross scribble."
- Accept whatever they make. A purple blob called "happy" is a success.
Ages 5–6
- Offer simple outlines to fill in, such as faces, hearts or animals, alongside blank paper.
- Ask "what happened?" and "what helped?" questions.
- Try the feelings faces chart and "weather inside me".
- Start a small feelings journal, with one drawing a day or a few times a week.
Ages 7–8
- Introduce more precise feeling words and mixed feelings ("excited and nervous").
- Encourage comic strips with speech bubbles and thought bubbles.
- Let children write a sentence under their picture if they want to.
- Talk about how different people might feel differently about the same event.
What to Say (and What to Avoid)
How we respond matters more than the activity itself.
Helpful things to say:
- "Tell me about your picture."
- "What's happening here?"
- "I notice you used lots of dark blue. Can you tell me about that?"
- "That sounds like it was really hard."
- "What helped you feel better?"
Things to avoid:
- Guessing or labeling for them ("That's a sad picture, isn't it?"). Let them tell you.
- Fixing the drawing or suggesting "nicer" colors.
- Reading too much into one picture. Children draw dark skies because they like dark skies.
- Pushing for details if they don't want to talk. "Okay, I'm here if you want to tell me later" is enough.
If you ever have ongoing worries about a child's wellbeing, talk with their teacher, your family doctor or another trusted professional. Art activities are a gentle everyday tool, not a replacement for that kind of support.
Ideas for Teachers and Classrooms
- Morning check-in: children color a small square in a "feelings color" as they arrive.
- Class feelings wall: display faces children have drawn, labeled with feeling words in English and the children's home languages.
- Calm corner: stock it with coloring pages, crayons and a few "calm place" drawings.
- Story time link: after a read-aloud, children draw the character's feeling and share in pairs.
Keep everything voluntary. Some children love to share; others prefer to keep their pictures private, and that's fine.
Frequently Asked Questions
My child only draws happy pictures. Is that a problem?
Not at all. Many children prefer cheerful subjects, and that's perfectly normal. You can still talk about feelings through characters in books or through "weather inside me" without expecting their drawings to change.
Should I keep my child's feelings drawings?
If your child wants to, yes. A simple folder or journal lets them look back and notice how feelings change over time. Always ask first, as some children like to throw away an angry scribble once they've finished with it.
Can coloring pages be used for feelings activities, or only blank paper?
Both work. Blank paper gives more freedom, while outlines — a face, an animal, a house — give a ready structure that many children find less daunting. Calm, repetitive coloring can also be a pleasant way to settle after a busy day.
How often should we do these activities?
There's no set schedule. Little and often works well: a few minutes after school, before bed, or after a difficult moment once everyone has calmed down.
Try It Today
Next time your child seems unsettled or full of news, put out some paper and crayons and sit down beside them. You can also open the free Doodlebari drawing board to draw a "feelings face" together, then choose a calming picture to fill in. For quiet coloring on the go, the Doodlebari app on Google Play works on Android phones and tablets.
