Language During Mealtime

A blog about my love for food, family and ways to encourage language through mealtime.

Emotion Stones

by Filed Under: ADHD/ADD, Anxiety, Apps and Toys, Autism, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, Social Skills Delay/Deficit, Special Needs

Emotion Stones

Emotion Stones by Yellow Door is a wonderful therapeutic toy to help learn emotions. I saw these stones about a month ago online and had to purchase them.

The set of tactile stones comes 12 in a set. Each stone is developed for a variety of ages including older children who are learning about different emotions.

Featuring the four emotions that young children most readily identify and experience – happy, sad, surprised and angry – the set includes two examples of each feeling, so that you can use them for matching and other carryover activities. Durable and washable, they are created from a unique stone mix and can be used outdoors and in sand and water.

These stones are wonderful for all children but can be specifically useful for children with Autism or social skills deficits, who have increased difficulty interpreting social cues and facial expressions.

10 Ways to Use Emotion Stones to Facilitate Language  

  1. Label each stone and its emotion. 
  2. Write down the word so your child can learn how the word is spelled to develop literacy skills.
  3. Play a game of Guess the Feeling. Have your child choose a stone and then not tell you what it is. Tell your child to act out the feeling and then guess it. Take turns!
  4. Discuss the difference between emotions such as “What is the difference between being sad and angry?”
  5. Take turns choosing a stone and talk about when you felt that emotion. For example, I choose “happy”. I can say “I felt happy when I watched my favorite movie.”
  6. Use books to facilitate conversation about emotions. For example, when reading a book discuss the emotions of the characters. Ask your child to find the “worry face”.
  7. Choose a stone and then have your child draw that emotion. What makes the face look sad versus happy?
  8. Use a sensory object. The stones feel so smooth and work well for a sensory activity.
  9. Matching activity! Match the two happy faces. Match the two sad faces, etc.
  10. Write a feeling. Encourage your child to write about their feeling. For example, I feel _______ because ______.

Emotion Stones

For more ideas, check out this video…

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