Learning Objectives
- Develop cognitive understanding of different emotions.
- Identify activities that bring joy and express those emotions through art.
- Improve empathy skills by recognizing and interpreting emotions.
Instructions
- Tell Scouts that they will engage in an art session and that they are in a safe space to ask questions, express emotions, and be themselves.
- Start with a story where the main character goes through different challenges, experiencing various emotions. Use familiar scenarios such as a day at school, a family gathering, or a Scout meeting.
- As you narrate the story, explicitly describe the emotions the main character feels. For example: "Maria had a fight with her best friend and she was feeling sad. She wanted to talk about it but didn’t know where to start. She felt like no one understood her." (Scouts will identify emotions like sadness, frustration, and confusion).
- After each emotional moment in the story, pause and ask Scouts what emotions they can identify.
- Next, ask Scouts to take turns acting out scenes that demonstrate different emotions from the story. The rest of the group will guess which emotions are being expressed. This helps develop empathy and recognition of emotions.
- Then, ask Scouts to choose a scene they resonate with and draw it, expressing the emotions through their art.
- Give them time to get inspired and encourage them to ask questions.
- At the end, have each Scout present their chosen scene and explain why they chose it.
Debrief
Reflect on the activity, emphasizing that all emotions are okay. Some emotions make us feel good, while others do not, but all are part of our human experience. Mention that understanding how we feel is important. Encourage Scouts to share more about times they felt similar emotions and what helped them feel better.
Materials
- Story (in case you prefer not to imagine a story, you can choose a tale for kids)
- Markers/ crayons/ Pens/ Pencils
- Notebook/ White pages
