Emotions Charades Inspired by Ish

We are always looking for ways to incorporate activities that support emotional development into our daily life. I was excited when Jen at Mama Papa Bubba recommended we read Ish by Peter H. Reynolds for Preschool Book Club. This book was new to me and I loved the challenge of exploring a completely new book. Ish is about a young boy who loves to draw until his confidence is diminished when his brother makes fun of his work. The book made me think about the amount of adults who say “they can’t draw” or “they can’t act“. What if we were actively taught to express ourselves freely and to celebrate each other’s strengths and challenges? Our Emotions Charades Inspired by Ish encourages children to act with confidence and listen with respect.

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WHAT YOU NEED FOR THE EMOTIONS CHARADES INSPIRED BY ISH

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a copy of the book Ish by Peter H Reynolds
copy of the emotions charades card- printable version here
scissors
laminator (optional) here is my favorite

AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT

emotional development (deciphering emotions, confidence, empathy)
social development (public speaking, listening skills)
language development
literacy

HOW TO PLAY EMOTIONS CHARADES INSPIRED BY ISH

Before playing the game print out a copy of the Emotions Charades Cards. Cut the cards apart. If you want them to be durable it is definitely worth laminating them. Here’s my favorite one.

Once you have the cards made read the book Ish to the children. After reading the book my children and I discussed how important it is to take care of each other’s hearts. We spoke about how much our words can hurt people and alter their actions.

We loved the idea of the “ish” drawings and emotions. My children have varying degrees of anxiety speaking in front of people so I thought it would be fun to explore public speaking in a silly, no-big-deal kind of a way.

The game is very simple. Have a child choose one of the cards and act it out. As you can see each card depicts an emotion with an image and text. We talked about how each emotion says “isn” because you don’t have to act it out perfectly, just give it a try. Oh how my girls LOVED this game! They loved acting out the different emotions and laughed hysterically when making guesses. We also practiced being respectful as listener and cheering on our friends.

Charlotte acted happy.