Emotions cards

I have to thank Swati for giving me a boot up the bum and making me dig out these files. The company I worked for before asked me to make a load of cards to use in class (I retained the copywrite!) and I have been meaning to put them up on Lulu for ages but, well you know how it is! So, here they are, the file includes 3 styles of card and 10 different bingo sheets, there is a preview page too :o).

Now, I would like to say I am not in favour of flashcards being used for drill but there are loads of other uses for them, here are a few of the games I used to use in class - note my classes had a max of 8 students and I always had two sets of each lot of cards.

Memory - simple, turn the cards over so they are face down, take it in turns turning over 2 cards to find a matching pair.

Fishing - you will need paper clips and a magnetic fishing rod too (I used a cooking chopstick, a bit of string and a magnet all held together with cellotape!). Attach paperclips to the cards, face down and then get the kids to fish them out. You can make this more difficult by having them stand on a chair and if you feel mean, ask them what kind of 'fish' it is, if they get it wrong, the fish gets thrown back into the sea!

Race - you will need some kind of place marker - small cars go down well with boys and a dice plus a start and goal sheet. Lay the cards out in a long line, either face up or down put the start at one end and goal at the other, then play as you would a board game. Throw the dice and move forward that amount of spaces. Make it more fun by adding bomb cards - decide before the game starts the forfeit for landing on a bomb or use the forward and back cards - you can download a pack of these cards for free here.

Janken race - janken is otherwise known as rock, paper scissors, rules of play are here. Lay the cards out in a horse-shoe shape along the edge of a table, face down. You have 2 players, one at each end of the horse shoe. When you say go the players race by picking up the card, turning it over and naming what is on it, they continue around the horseshoe until the two players meet. Now they stop to do 'janken' the loser must return to the start and the winner continues around the horseshoe until the players meet again. This continues until both players are at one end and just the first/final card is left, if the stronger player (the one who has made it all around the horseshoe) wins he is the champ. If he looses he has to go back to the start and the game continues....be warned this game can go on for a loooong time. If that is the case, pull a few cards off the table! This was always a high energy game and can be played in teams too.

Treasure Hunt - a fav with the little ones. Hide one set of cards around the room then ask little one to go and find the matching card. The easiest version - let the child take the card with her, next show the child the card and ask her to find the matching one, finally verbally tell the child (no visual) clue what to look for. This can be played with just one child or for a riot, a whole load of them.

Charades - the first child takes a card and acts out what is on the card - be prepared to be amused. There are numerous rules and versions of this just be sure the rules are laid out before you start.

Snakes and ladders - use the cards in conjunction with the snakes and ladders (or similar) board game. The child must name the card before he can take a turn.

I am sure I had more games, I will add them as I remember them!

Regarding explaining the emotions, I have found that helping Ebi-kun remember when something specific happened and then linking that to the emotion card works well. For example, I said the other day, 

"Do you remember when that big group of high school calls all started saying 'kawaii' (cute) to you on the train?"

Nods head.

"Do you remember how you felt?"

Nods head.

"Did you feel good?"

Shakes head

Well that was because you were embarrassed, can you think of another time you were embarrassed? .........