LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION TOOLKIT FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN INDIA• 13
Activity: Mood Meter. Partner: CHES-WORD, Tamil Nadu.Experience from the field
“It was a strange game as we had never analyzed our emotions.”
Children could understand their emotions and how strongly they felt some of them, especially when they
compared their charts with others. (Children affected by AIDS, WINS, Tirupati)Tips for the facilitatorTips for the facilitatorTips for the facilitatorTips for the facilitatorTips for the facilitator
A game like “Dumb Charades” is useful when children need to calm down. Here, one child imitates an
emotion and the others have to guess. The game is also useful to have a discussion on feelings before the
exercise.Adaptation
For Younger Children:
Make three circles of different sizes, the largest circle representing a feeling the child experiences
often and the smallest circle representing a feeling experienced the least often. Give each child a
mood meter chart with circles of different sizes. There should not be any numbers on the x-axis for
this mood meter. Each child will place a big, medium or small circle above the feeling depending
on how he or she feels. The mood meters of all the children can be consolidated.Review
Reflect on the most common emotions and level with the children. Why did this happen? What are
the new emotions added? Point out that one can have positive and negative emotions at the
same time. If there are very low scores on the bars, the facilitator or a project counselor may
decide to talk to the child later on an individual level.