10 Toys And Books That Help Little Kids Understand Big Feelings

Little kids have big emotions. These toys and books can help them figure out what they're feeling – and how to manage it.

Parents editor at HuffPost UK

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Helping your child navigate something as big and complex as emotional wellbeing can feel pretty daunting, if you ask me.

But there are ways to support your child to understand and manage their feelings that can be “fun and even enlightening”, according to Hayley Standen, a social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) advisor, who’s teamed up with Learning Resources to create a Kids’ Wellbeing Toolkit.

Emotional literacy is the ability to recognise, name and talk about feelings – children learn this over time, and it’s pretty important for everything from self-awareness and empathy to maintaining healthy relationships.

You can start building emotional literacy by helping children learn the words for different feelings. “Naming emotions makes them easier to understand and manage,” explains Standen.

Some practical ways to build emotional literacy include:

Talking about how characters feel in books, films and on TV.

Naming your child’s feelings in the moment.

Sharing your own feelings to help normalise them.

Linking feelings to colours.

Using resources such as books and tools to introduce emotions in a fun way.

On that latter point, here are 10 toys and books which can help kickstart some all-important conversations about how your child feels.

Feelings & Emotions Puzzle Cards

Puzzle-fans will enjoy matching the emoji-style emotions with the real child making a similar facial expression.

What would you say to someone if you hurt their feelings? What could you say or do to cheer someone up? These are just some of the question prompts on Be Kind cubes, which are perfect for helping children think about what they'd do in certain social situations.

Usborne All About Feelings 6 Book Set

This bumper set of books, which is now heavily discounted, talks through important topics with kids such as feelings (including how to describe feelings, how feelings can change, and the importance of being kind to yourself); diversity, friends, bodies, families, and coping with worries and fears. A must-have toolkit for tackling a range of topics as your kids grow up.

'Feel it All' Mini Kit

This kit includes three playthings and one book, all helping young children (aged two and over) begin identifying and understanding emotions in a fun, interactive way.

Emotion Fidget Poppers

Kids can fidget and boost their emotional literacy with these rainbow emotion fidget poppers. Each popper has an emoji-style facial expression ranging from happy to worried to angry.

Ed Sheeran's a fan, so is Matt Haig. This picture book is perfect for three- to five-year-olds and charts the different emotions, as well as how to "find your happy" (with the help of a very cute sloth).

My Feelings Bean Bags

These tactile bean bags feature different colours and facial expressions to help children begin to understand what different emotions look like while linking them to colours.

Big Feelings Pineapple

Move over Mr Potato Head, this friendly fella lets your kids explore different emotions and what they look like in an interactive way.

This is a great book for exploring emotions, giving real-world examples that toddlers and pre-schoolers can relate to. Plus, there are many many flaps to be lifted. What more could you want?!

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