Help your toddler begin to understand emotions through books, mirrors, and comforting pretend play. This gentle play plan introduces feeling words and simple ways to respond to big feelings like sadness, surprise, or joy.
Big feelings, little books: Setting the stage with our favorite emotion stories and a cozy cuddle buddy.
About This Play Plan:
This play plan supports your toddler’s growing emotional awareness through hands-on activities that introduce facial expressions, feeling words, and comforting actions. Using books, mirrors, and a favorite doll or stuffed toy, your child begins to explore how emotions look and feel, which may help build the foundation for empathy, self-regulation, and healthy expression as they grow.
Big feelings are intense emotions that can feel overwhelming to a young child, like frustration, sadness, anger, excitement, fear, or even joy. At around 15 months, toddlers are just beginning to feel and express these emotions, but often lack the words or tools to manage them. That’s why they may cry, throw, hit, or cling when those big feelings come up. Play plans that gently explore emotions help toddlers start recognizing, naming, and working through those feelings with support.
How to Use This Plan:
- Gather Your Materials: Check the list below for everything you’ll need.
- Follow the 5E Tabs: Each tab provides step-by-step guidance, creative ideas, and reflection prompts to make the experience more meaningful.
- Let Your Child Lead: Observe how your child interacts with the materials and adjust based on their interests and developmental stage.
Spark your child’s curiosity:
Start by reading books that depict “big feelings”. These stories can be introduced gradually (during daytime reading, quiet moments, or as part of your bedtime routine).
Let your toddler choose the book, turn the pages, or revisit the same story again and again.
As you read, pause to point out the characters’ expressions and name the feelings: “The baby looks angry,” or “They look happy now.”
Keep your tone warm and calm. These books help toddlers recognize that big feelings are okay and common.
Offer a comforting stuffed toy or doll as part of the reading experience, especially when exploring feelings like sadness or frustration.
I highly recommend Lovevery’s Hitting Hurts and Emmer’s Screen Time.
Encourage hands-on exploration:
Read a simple book like Making Faces or use flashcards that show real facial expressions labeled with feeling words.
Let your toddler flip the pages and point at the pictures. Observe how they respond to each expression.
You can also introduce simple songs like If You’re Happy and You Know It to encourage your toddler to connect emotions with actions. This helps them begin to associate feelings with physical expression, like clapping for happiness or hugging for comfort.
Provide simple, age-appropriate explanations:
Use a toddler-safe mirror to show your toddler their own facial expressions. If they look happy, you can say something like “you look happy today.”
You can also model how to respond to emotions by showing your own expression and action.
For example, you can frown and say, “This is my sad face,” then hug a stuffed toy and add, “When I feel sad, a hug helps me feel better.” This shows your toddler a simple option on how to cope with big feelings.
While you might invite your toddler to show their own “happy face”, it’s completely normal if they don’t mimic the expressions right away, or at all. Many toddlers prefer to simply observe, listen, or explore the book and mirror in their own way. It’s enough to gently introduce emotional vocabulary and let your child become familiar with facial cues over time.
Expand on the activity:
Carry the learning into daily life by gently labeling your toddler’s emotions as they happen.
Even if they’re not speaking yet, they’re always listening and observing.
Say things like, “You look sad. Is it because we stopped playing?” or “You’re so excited to see Papa!”
Over time, this supports their ability to label and acknowledge their own emotions, an important step in learning how to express and manage them in healthy ways.
Reflect on how your child responded to the play:
- Did they show interest in the faces in the book or mirror?
- Did they attempt to mimic any facial expressions or emotions?
- Did they engage with the doll in a comforting or emotional way?
- Did they start recognizing or labeling feelings in themselves or others?
- Have they begun responding more calmly when you name their emotions?
Handling big feelings is a lifelong skill, one your child will keep learning and practicing as they grow. Your calm presence and simple, repeated language are already laying the foundation.
Materials List:
- Tricky Topic Books like Hitting Hurts or Emmer’s Screen Time (or other books that show real emotions and social situations)
- Lovevery Organic Cotton Baby Doll (or any comforting doll or stuffed toy)
- Making Faces Board Book (or any toddler-friendly book with labeled facial expressions)
- Optional: Emotion flashcards or printed photos of real children’s facial expressions for matching or naming feelings
- Optional: If You’re Happy and You Know It song (sung together or played from a device)
Tips for the Grown-Ups:
Follow the Child’s Lead:
Observe how your child interacts with the playthings. Let them guide the session by following their interests. If they show a preference for exploring textures, sounds, or colors, embrace it. Be a silent observer, ready to expand their learning with gentle, supportive language.
Create a Calm, Inviting Space:
Set up a clutter-free area that encourages focused exploration. Use natural light and simple setups to inspire curiosity. If the weather permits, take the play outside for a richer sensory experience, connecting with the natural world.
Encourage Open-Ended Play:
Embrace imaginative twists and unexpected uses for the toys. If the activity takes a surprising turn, celebrate this as a sign of growing cognitive flexibility and problem-solving.
Our Own Play Experience
It was around 14 months when my toddler began expressing a whole range of big feelings. She’d shout or shake her fists when asked not to touch something, or if playtime had to end. She’d also get visibly upset when she was tired or hungry. We wanted to help her find better ways to express herself, even before she had the words.
The board book Making Faces has been part of her little library since she was a baby, and her favorite part has always been the mirror at the end. She just loves pressing her face against it.
Recently, to help her understand that big feelings are normal, I ordered Emmer’s Screen Time and Hitting Hurts from Lovevery’s Subscriber Shop. She doesn’t usually get upset when I turn off her shows (something I’m grateful for, though I know that could change any day), but there have been a few moments when she’s put her hands on me during an outburst.
The first time we read these new books, her reactions were intense. She would ball her fists, shout, shake, and even try to close the book when she saw the angry or crying children. But we kept reading, calmly showing her how the stories resolved.
Over time, she started to enjoy them, though she still has big reactions to some of the images; she now anticipates them and stays engaged.
When we tried this play plan for the first time at 15 months, she was actually in a bad mood after breakfast, probably still cranky from just waking up. I asked her if she felt tired and led her to her books. I invited her to choose one of the three, and she picked Emmer’s Screen Time first.
We cozied up together, I gave her her doll, and we read. I let her turn the pages at her own pace. She calmed down noticeably by the time we read Hitting Hurts, the next book she chose.
Finally, we read Making Faces. She lit up as soon as we got to the mirror. I held her doll up and said, “Your doll looks happy!” (The doll has a fixed smile, so that helps!) She flipped through the books a bit more after that, and we wrapped up the play session there.
Now, when she expresses big feelings, I’ll ask, “Do you feel mad?” or “Do you feel sad?” and then try to guess what might be upsetting her. She can’t express everything yet, but she’s learning.
One of her newest words is “all done,” which she now says when she’s had enough of a toy, a book, or even a feeling. It’s been incredibly helpful for both of us. We’re still figuring things out together, one feeling at a time, but it’s comforting to know she’s already starting to recognize what she’s feeling and how to let us know.
Please Note: I am a proud Lovevery subscriber and fan, and many of the play plans shared here feature Lovevery playthings. However, this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by Lovevery. All ideas and recommendations are my own, based on my experiences as a mom who values meaningful, play-based learning.
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