Body maps are a tool to support your child in discussing and recognising big feelings in their body, supporting body awareness, and emotional literacy. To complete this activity you and your child will pretend to be detectives to find the clues your body gives you to tell you what it needs or what it is feeling. You will need paper with an outline of a body, markers, or coloured pencils.
Being able to link the sensations in our body, sometimes called interoception, to needs (like hunger) or feelings (like sadness or frustration) can support children to identify what their body needs to regulate and stay in control. It may be best to do this activity with your child to support their regulation and help them to talk through things they might be feeling in their bodies, especially if the feeling is uncomfortable.
Extensions: If your child is having difficulty coming up with a big feeling, describe an event or memory where your child had a big feeling to try and prompt discussion. For example when they lost a game, when they got a new toy, or when someone told them no. Once your child has completed their body maps you can help them to think of strategies to regulate if they have that feeling again. For example, if they felt like stomping, maybe they can try jumping on a trampoline or skipping to support their body’s needs.
Tips: Remember, there are no good or bad feelings. When labelling emotions it is important to remind children that feeling anger, sadness, joy, frustration or any feeling is completely okay! Some feelings might be big, uncomfortable or scary. But if we can learn how to recognise feelings in our bodies, it helps us to be in control of our bodies to work through big feelings to feel safe and regulated.
