Tātari kare-ā-roto - Sorting emotions

Ata: Resource collection 

This activity is part of the Ata collection of resources. See the resource carousel below for more.

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Learners will 

• Have a deeper understanding of emotions, feelings, and moods. 
• Build their vocabulary. 
• Explore and discuss different perspectives on emotions. 
• Develop empathy and insight into their own and others’ emotions. 
• Develop confidence in expressing their emotions. 

Ways to use the resource 

• Change the scale you are sorting by and discuss what has changed and why. 
• Take a large set of (curated) Emotion cards and work as a group to place them on a scale of your choice. 
• Use the base activity, or try the Game of emotions gameplay. 

Shown here: The Sorting emotions activity sheet has five emotion cards placed on it. Each person or group sorts their emotion cards on an agreed-upon scale. 

Instructions 

What you will need: 

• Emotion cards 
• Sorting emotions activity sheet: One per person/group (not needed for the game)

Set up 

1. Prepare cards 
   Add or remove Emotion cards to suit the needs, interests, age, or developmental stage of learners. 
2. Prepare activity sheets 
   Print or photocopy one Sorting emotions activity sheet for each person or group. 

Activity 

1. Choose emotions
   Each learner receives five Emotion cards. Either spread the cards out on the table face-up and let the learner(s) select, or shuffle the cards and deal five to each.
2. Sort emotions
   Each person or group sorts their Emotion cards on an agreed scale, for example, unpleasant to pleasant, high to low energy, or high to low impact on your life force, focus, or energy levels. 

Game variant 

1. Set up
   • Pick someone to be the judge for the first round
   • Deal three cards to each player (including the judge) and place the remaining cards face-down in a pile
   • Agree on a scale on which to sort the cards, for example, unpleasant to pleasant
   • The players sort their three starting cards based on the agreed scale.
2. To play
   • The judge reveals a card from the top of the pile
   • Moving clockwise, each other player indicates where the new card would fit within their existing set and explains why 
   • The judge decides which player provided the best explanation and gives that card to the player to add to their set 
   • The player to the left of the judge becomes the judge for the next round. 
3. To win
   • Play continues until someone gets six cards in their set. 

Discuss & customise 

As you go, discuss why the cards (emotions) sit where they do. 

Downloads 

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

• Ata blank cards (.pdf)
  Blank Ata cards in an A3-size printable format. Use for capturing ideas and customising the resource. 
• Ata Sorting Emotions activity sheet (.pdf)
  The A3-size Ata Sorting Emotions activity sheet in pdf format. 
• Ata Sorting Emotions teacher support material (.pdf)
  Teacher support material for the Ata Sorting emotions activity. 

Next steps 

Discuss emotions as part of the Developing strategies activity. 

Emotion cards can be linked to other existing social and emotional resources and frameworks, for example, Zones of Regulation™.