Teaching Kids To Notice Body Clues for Emotions ⭐️♥️🌀
Children often experience feelings in their bodies before they can fully identify or express them with words.
- A foggy mind ⭐️
- A racing heart ♥️
- Butterflies in the belly🌀
- Tense shoulders 💁🏽
- A heavy chest 😮💨
When children begin learning how to notice these internal cues, they start building emotional awareness; one of the foundational skills of emotional intelligence.
At FeelLinks, we intentionally created touchpoints on our plush emotion dolls, in our FeelLinks journal and in our Feel Trip book, to help children connect feelings to physical sensations in the body. The head ⭐️, ♥️, and belly 🌀 offer simple, concrete ways for children to pause and check in with themselves.
In our book, Feel Trip: a journey through ordinary emotions, the repeated phrase:“I check in with my head, heart and belly,” gives children a simple rhythm and framework for emotional reflection. FUN FACT: At least 1 ⭐️♥️🌀 touchpoint is hidden on each page- a super fun activity for the kiddos while reading the story!
Repetition matters! Children learn through repeated language, repeated experiences, and repeated emotional modeling. Over time, these check-ins help children become more aware of what is happening inside their bodies and what those sensations may be communicating emotionally.
FeelLinks dolls reinforce this concept through physical touchpoints children can see and feel:
- Head ⭐️ → thoughts, worries, confusion, focus
- Heart ♥️ → emotions, connection, sadness, love, excitement
- Belly 🌀 → instincts, nervousness, fear, butterflies, safety cues
FeelLinks journal continues this same emotional learning process. Every journal page includes the FeelLinks touchpoints to encourage children to slow down, reflect, and recognize the body clues connected to their emotions.
When children are taught to notice cues such as:
- “My head feels busy.”
- “My heart feels heavy.”
- “My belly feels squirmy.”
They begin developing the ability to pause, identify emotions, communicate needs, and regulate more effectively.
This body awareness also helps children:
- build emotional vocabulary
- strengthen self-awareness
- recognize stress and anxiety earlier on
- develop emotional regulation skills
- feel more connected to themselves and others
Emotions are not just something we think about, they are something we experience throughout the body.
Helping children notice those internal signals gives them powerful lifelong tools for self-understanding, connection, and emotional well-being.
The earlier children learn to recognize what is happening inside their bodies, the more supported they become in understanding their emotions - and the more we are able to support their needs.
DOWNLOAD OUR FREE FEELLINKS USERGUIDES AND OTHER EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES HERE
FeelLinks tools are for home, school, therapy, counseling - really, anywhere children are!
