Emotions and Feelings SEL Activities for School Counseling
A daily feelings check-in is one of the most useful things you can do as a school counselor. It builds emotional vocabulary, gives you real-time information on who's struggling that day, and signals to students that their inner life matters.
This collection has the tools I use to run check-ins across individual sessions, small groups, and classroom guidance:
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feelings check-in tools and visual charts
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feelings scale worksheets and posters
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emotion recognition activities and games
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feelings prompt cards for sessions
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interactive feelings activities for groups and individuals
Most resources come in printable and digital formats.
Why these work?
Each one is built around a single question: "Will I actually use this on a Monday morning before first period?" The ones that survived that test are the ones in the shop. They're calibrated for elementary and middle school students, low-prep, and flex across counseling settings.
Whether you need a daily check-in for a small group, a feelings scale for a struggling student, or an emotions tool for a one-on-one session, this collection has it.
Want unlimited access?
IMPACT membership ($39/month or $390/year) gets you unlimited access to every check-in tool, lesson, and worksheet in the shop. About 1,000 counselors are using it.
CTA
Browse the collection below. Looking for self-regulation tools to pair with these check-ins? See the coping skills and self-regulation collection.
FAQs
What is a feelings check-in for kids?
A feelings check-in is a brief activity that invites students to identify and name how they're feeling at a specific moment. It builds emotional vocabulary, helps you understand where kids are emotionally, and tells students that what they're feeling matters.
What is a feelings scale?
A feelings scale is a visual tool that helps students rate the intensity of their emotions on a numbered scale, usually 1-5 or 1-10. It develops self-awareness and gives you concrete information about a student before you dive in.
What is an emotional check-in?
A structured prompt (visual, verbal, or written) that helps students pause and identify their current emotional state. Regular check-ins are one of the most effective tools for building emotional literacy in school-age kids.
Showing 34 products
This impulsive behavior individual counseling curriculum is designed to be low-prep and used with primary /K-2 students in a tier III one-on-one setting. Through engaging activities, hands-on crafts, and interactive games, students will learn the strategies they need to develop...
Help elementary students better understand and overcome anger and frustration with this complete 7-week school counseling group. Steam Stoppers is a low-prep 7-week anger management small group set to ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors. Students will learn how to identify anger...
Do your middle school students struggle with self-regulation and responding to conflicts in a healthy way? Self-regulation and conflict response are essential topics to teach at the middle school level. This middle school counseling self-regulation and conflict response lesson is thoughtfully designed...
Looking for a ready to use coping skills lesson for your primary students? This coping skills classroom guidance lesson is designed to be used with Pre-K to 1st-grade students in a tier 1 class lesson setting. By using an engaging icebreaker,...
Suicide prevention is a tough topic to teach but unfortunately, it's a reality. This middle school counseling suicide prevention lesson is thoughtfully designed to teach students how to be resilient and to identify risk factors and warning signs of poor mental health....
Looking for a ready to use emotion recognition lesson for your primary students? This emotion identification and feelings recognition classroom guidance lesson is designed to be used with Pre-K to 1st-grade students in a tier 1 class lesson setting. By using...
Looking for low-prep counseling activities to use with the students in an individual counseling setting? Need to make sure all of your curriculum follows research-based best practices? This individual counseling curriculum bundle is designed to be used with students in a tier...
This 6-week emotion recognition and self-regulation small group is designed to help students identify their feelings, emotions, and applicable coping skills to help them self-regulate. This curriculum includes everything you need to run a successful school counseling small group including...
In this classroom counseling lesson, students will identify and discuss when they need to use coping skills. Through engaging and hands on activities, they’ll practice the coping strategies in real time ! Includes: Detailed Counselor's Guide with instructions Engaging and...
Small group counseling is an essential part of an MTSS comprehensive school counseling program. This elementary school counseling group bundle includes 10 ready-to-use small groups for Tier II intervention, all of which are ASCA and CASEL-aligned! Topics covered include anxiety,...
Looking for a super fun and engaging anger management lesson that your students will be talking about for the rest of the day? This anger management guidance lesson will help students better understand and overcome feelings of anger and frustration....
This 7-week emotion recognition and management middle school counseling group is designed to help students recognize how they are feeling and practice coping skills. In addition students will learn relaxation techniques and how to reframe negative thought patterns. This curriculum includes everything...