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Interactive Activities · Activity 7 of 18
Coping Strategies for Intense Emotions (Ages 8–12)
A presentation of the Feelings Thermometer activity. Students help make a thermometer poster with levels from 1 (calm) to 5 (explosive), place real-life situation cards at the level that matches the emotional intensity, and learn to choose coping tools before feelings become overwhelming.
Key takeaways
- The activity is the Feelings Thermometer, carried out with students aged 12–13.
- Students help make a large thermometer poster labelled from 1 (calm) to 5 (explosive).
- The teacher explains that emotions have different levels of intensity, like rising heat on a thermometer.
- Each student gets a card describing a real-life situation and places it at the level that matches its emotional intensity.
- The poster stays on the classroom wall as a visual tool for self-regulation.
What is the Feelings Thermometer?
It is a strategy for coping with intense emotions. Its main objective is to help students recognise the intensity of their emotions and choose appropriate coping tools before their feelings become overwhelming. Students help create a large thermometer poster with levels from 1 to 5, ranging from calm to explosive.
How does the activity run in class?
The teacher introduces the idea that emotions have different levels of intensity and invites students to share real-life experiences. Each student then receives a card describing a real-life situation, takes time to read and reflect on it, and places the card on the thermometer at the level they think best matches the emotional intensity: low, medium or high.
What are the benefits for students?
The activity helps students recognise and understand their emotions, and it is especially useful for those who struggle to express their feelings verbally, because the visual thermometer makes emotions more concrete. Over time it is expected to support emotional awareness, self-regulation and resilience. The thermometer is displayed in the classroom so students always have a visual tool to measure their emotions.
Video transcript
Generated automatically from the video's audio or subtitles; it may contain small errors.
Hello, today I'm going to present a strategy focused on coping with intense emotions. The activity is called the Feelings Thermometer and it was implemented with students aged 12 to 13 years old. The main objective was to help students recognize the intensity of their emotions and choose appropriate coping tools before their feelings become overwhelming. To support this, the students helped create a large thermometer poster, labeled from 1 to 5, ranging from calm to explosive.
Next, the teacher introduces the concept by explaining that emotions have different levels of intensity, just like increasing the heat on a thermometer. Students are then invited to share real-life experiences as examples. After that, each student receives a card describing a real-life situation and the teacher gives them some time to read it and reflect about it. After that, the students are invited to place their cards on the thermometer at the level they believe best matches the emotional intensity, low, medium or high.
After that, this activity offers many advantages. It helps students recognize and understand their emotions. It is especially beneficial for those who may struggle to express their feelings verbally. The visual thermometer makes emotions more concrete and easier to understand. It is expected that over time this supports the development of emotional awareness, self-regulation and resilience.
The feelings thermometer is then displayed in the classroom so students always have a visual tool to measure their emotions, helping them self-regulate more easily throughout the day.
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Moral Dilemmas and the Importance of Emotions (Ages 13–16)
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Coping Strategies for Intense Emotions (Ages 8–12)
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Strategies for Coping with Intense Emotions
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