The thermometer of emotions

Understanding emotions from a very young age is essential to understand how we are, what we are feeling and how we can self-regulate. A tool to work on these important aspects in childhood is the emotions thermometer.

In this article we tell you what it is, how to use it and why it can benefit the little ones. As we will see, it is a tool that we can customize with them and that will allow us to work on aspects such as the identification of emotions and emotional regulation.

The thermometer of emotions: what is it?

The thermometer of emotions or emotional thermometer It is a very useful activity to work on emotions, whether with children or adolescents. However, it is mainly used with children and people with intellectual disabilities.

It is a visual scale that graduates the intensity of our emotions and that is supported by images, drawings, photographs or emoticons. We can customize it to our liking and adapt it to the age or group we want to work with.

What is it for?

It is a very useful tool in child therapy or child education. It can be very useful for those children who have difficulty defining how they feel and quantifying the intensity of their emotions.

Thus, it allows you to identify, label and express emotions, on the one hand. For the other, helps us regulate the intensity of emotions that the child feels, until reaching the point of “no return” (anger), on a scale of 1 to 5, normally. Each number is an emotion.

Emotion scale: 1 to 5

In this way, the scale normally includes five emotions. The first is a happy face and the last is an angry face. In between, intermediate or more “neutral” or mild emotions, which they go from one emotional state (joy/happiness) to another (anger).

The idea is to identify where the child is at and teach them strategies to manage anger. To have an indicative idea, we can include the following emotions (to choose from), on a scale from less to more intensity:

Happiness / joy. Boredom / doubt / slight restlessness.Annoyance (beginning of anger).RageAnger, anger (greater intensity) (the “point of no return”).

Who especially benefits from this tool?

Although it is a beneficial tool for all types of people, the truth is that it is designed especially for young children. It’s known that visual aids and images are very helpful for childrenespecially when they do not know how to express certain situations or emotions or when they have difficulties managing anger.

On the other hand, the emotion thermometer may be especially beneficial for those who cannot communicate verbally (for example, people with an intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder).

Children who have difficulty talking about emotions, whether when it comes to identifying them, labeling them, etc., can also benefit a lot from this tool. In the case of adolescents with similar characteristics, it may also be interesting to use it.

Types of emotion thermometer

This is a creative tool, which can be designed through templates or images from the internet. But we will give the final touch, as we will be able to adapt the technique to our interests.

There are different types of emotion thermometer. We can find, for example, different thermometers depending on whether they use:

Photographs.Images.Drawings.Emoticons.Real faces.Etc.

How to use the emotions thermometer?

There are a couple of essential steps that can help us get the most out of this tool. Thus, it is essential to carry out these two small actions:

Comment on each image or drawing with the child

Once you have designed your emotions thermometer, ask the child what he sees in each image, drawing or emoticon that you have selected. The goal is to label and describein your own words (and with help if you need it), each emotion or state.

Decide on the “anger action plan”

The last emotion on the emotion thermometer, the “hottest”, is anger, rage or annoyance. Another important step when using this tool with the child is to decide together what strategies she can use if she reaches that state of anger.

It is important to let him know that it is legal and valid to feel anger or rage., but the way to express that anger has to be appropriate. The strategies to use are multiple. Some ideas are:

Breathe deeply.Count to 10.Change location/go to the room to be alone.Write what happens to you. Practice the turtle technique. Change games (in case you are playing with a partner).

The emotions thermometer can become a fun tool for children. You can try letting them design it themselves, as this way they will feel part of the process.

For example, you can decorate it in your own way or use photographs of your own face expressing different emotions. Thus, during its creation we can also take advantage of it to work on other emotional aspects and other skills.

Do you think the emotions thermometer can be useful? How would you work it? The proposed ideas are indicative, although each one must adapt the technique to their children and to your needs.

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