12 • MODULE SIX: COPING WITH EMOTIONS
ACTIVITY FOUR
Mood Meter
Group Check In- Play a movement game. Ask the children to hold hands and stand in a line. The child at one
end of the line is the head of the snake and the one at the other end is the tail. The ‘head’ has
to try to catch the ‘tail.’ The children must not let go of each other’s hands. Repeat once or
twice and then change the ‘head’ and the ‘tail.’ - Children would have discussed the preceding Linking Learning with Life activity in the Group
Check in. Introduce the activity by telling children that we all have different feelings inside us.
Some feelings we feel very often and some infrequently. Explain that a mood meter will allow
us to plot them. Remind them that all answers are right and that each person should write
what s/he really feels. - The mood meter has a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 meaning that a child does not have this
feeling and 10 meaning that this feeling comes very often. Make a bar diagram on the x-axis
with four or five major feelings such as happy, sad, and angry. Add one or two others according
to the situation such as worried, nervous, shy and so on. (Refer to the feelings list if required.)
The Y-axis shows bars on a scale of 0 to 10. The child notes the feelings s/he has on the bar and
signs at the level that represents his or her feelings. For example, a child who gets angry a lot
may sign in at 10 and does not feel sad most of the time may sign in at 3. Each child gets a mood
meter chart.
10
8
6
4
2
0
Happy Sad Shy Angry Nervous- The facilitator can ask for volunteers to explain their mood meter. No comments should be
made, and all feelings should be accepted. The mood meters can be consolidated to discuss
what the common emotions are in the group. By talking about the group emotions, children find
it easy to express why someone may feel very sad or angry.