You Know Sensations are Vital, but How in the World do you Teach Them?
What sensations might the pug be noticing?
As soon as I realized that sensations were the missing link to helping children understand (and ultimately regulate) their emotions, I immediately started searching for how to actually teach these concepts (If you missed it, be sure to start with What your Lessons on Emotions are Missing - Why it Matters and How to Teach It). Imagine my surprise when I realized there really aren’t many resources out there - especially for preschoolers!. I felt lucky enough to learn a little about interoception from some amazing occupational therapists. But there was very little that could easily be applied by parents and teachers.
The children’s books that I did find, started by defining physical sensations (yay!). But then, very quickly, they moved on to talk about emotions while emphasizing things children could do to calm their body/change their emotional state. While yes learning how to regulate and calm your body is important socially, there needs to be increased time spent understanding our sensations *before* we jump in to trying to change how we feel and the sensations we observe.
As a result, I started developing and experimenting with my own sensation activities. The ultimate goal was to explain the idea of sensations in a way that preschoolers could understand and define sensations while also providing materials and resources that could be used by teachers and parents. You’ll likely notice that regulating or changing emotions is not included in this blog. That’s because it is so important to take the time to lay a solid foundation for comprehension of sensations *before* we go about trying to alter emotional states or reactions. Keep reading to learn more about the activities and materials I use to first take time to teach sensations and then build on that information to teach how sensations relate to emotions.
“We need to take the time to truly understand the sensations we’re noticing *before* we go about trying to alter or change emotional states and responses.”
Steps and Strategies for Teaching Sensations
1. Introduce Sensations
As always, start by introducing the overall concept of ‘sensations’. Even if you’re talking to preschoolers, don’t shy away from using the word “sensations”. Children understand what we teach them! You’ll also be providing lots of structured practice and modeling which helps children generate a definition of sensations.
Since we will eventually be linking sensations with emotions, talk about “noticing” sensations and “feeling” feelings. Using notice/noticing when talking about sensations helps differentiate between sensations (things we notice) and emotional states (things we feel). It may seem small, but they are different concepts and we want to ensure we are treating them as such.
I wrote a social story that I use to introduce the idea of sensations. If you don’t already have your own copy, make sure you grab your copy of Sensations: How my Body Talks to Me
Physiological Sensations
I like to start with sensations that relate to a physiological need - sensations that we notice that tell us our body physiologically needs something (ex: a drink of water, sleep, food). Begin by introducing a general discussion about what you notice when your body needs one of these things.
How do you know when you need to scratch somewhere? What sensations do you notice in your body? (it itches).
How do you know that your body is hungry? What do you notice? (grumbling stomach, weak muscles, lower energy/body movement).
How do you now that your body is tired? What sensations do you notice? (moving slow, muscles heavy, eyes drooping).
How do you know that you need to put on a jacket? What do you notice? (cold temperature, shivering body, goosebumps)
Spend some time in this area - introducing the vocabulary concept of ‘sensations’. When discussing sensations, make sure you to “notice” sensations (versus “feeling” sensations).
2. Outline the body parts and sensations you’ll be discussing and noticing
There are a wide variety of different sensations that we can notice. However, there are several sensations that tend to be related to emotional states and that we can readily change/alter. These sensations are a great starting point for preschoolers.
Heart rate - place your hand over your heart to feel your heart beating (younger children may need help finding their heart)
Breathing - place one hand on your stomach and one hand on your chest. Notice the rise and fall as you breath in and out
Muscle tension - we have muscles all over our body.
Temperature - our body has its own temperature. We might be feeling hot, cold, or just right.
I like to add visuals to this part as it can be hard to visualize things that are inside our body. This is why my sensations curriculum, Sensations and Emotions: Using Sensations to Teach Children about Emotions is full of visual support and includes books discussing and describing our heart, lungs, muscles, and skin.
3. Experiment with *changing* sensations
Once you’ve established a solid foundation of sensations, it’s time to explore how our sensations can change. I start by using the sensations that you outlined previously (heart rate, breathing, temperature, muscles). There is an abundance of sensations that you can explore - choose what makes the most sense for you and your children. I highly recommend that you always at least include heart rate and breathing.
Gather baseline information
Once you’ve picked your sensations, as a group notice what each body part is like before you begin. Place your hand on your heart to notice how it’s beating. Place your hand on your stomach and/or chest to check your breathing. Pause to notice the temperature of your skin and what your muscles are telling you.
Since I work with preschoolers, I like to use visuals.
Work to change the sensations you notice through different activities. I’ll share some of my favorites:
Jump up and down for 45 seconds - keep moving the entire time!
Put your hand in ice water (brief period of time!) or hold an icepack
Take some deep breaths - I like the ‘smell a flower, blow a pinwheel’ breathing or ‘fives’ breathing
Rub your hands together quickly for 30 seconds
After each activity, pause to ‘check' in’ on your body noticing if any sensations are different
Document the changes everyone notices within their own body.
Again, I like to use visuals - the visuals I use for this activity are available through TPT.
Remember that different people may notice different sensations. It can also be harder for children to understand how their sensations change. Because noticing sensations is a skill, the more we practice the easier it will become.
Support children in noticing the changes by going back-and-forth between these activities. This definitely isn’t a “one and done” activity! I like to do it multiple times and across several weeks. For all my teachers out there, it’s also a great transition activity (rubbing hands together while waiting in line, taking deep breaths - always useful!).
4. Pair sensations with emotions
Sensations give us important information about how we’re feeling. Often changing sensations are some of the first signs that our emotional states are changing. Understanding our sensations helps us to better understand our emotions. A solid comprehension of the emotion we are feeling helps us to figure out what we need in that moment. Recognizing and understanding sensations is the foundation that ultimately leads to emotional regulation.
Everyone experiences emotions differently but there do tend to be some general similarities. I start with these general statements and then individualize as necessary. While teaching this relationship, use the phrase “When I’m feeling ______, I notice ______”.
To begin, I use the emotions: mad, scared, sad, excited, and calm. Most people default to using ‘happy’ to describe their calm state.
Read books that link sensations to emotional states
This step is so powerful that I’ve dedicated an entire blog post to this topic.
Sensation sorts
Encourage children to ‘sort’ sensations into the expected emotion bucket
Give each child an emotion bucket, their job is to find the sensations that ‘go with’ that emotion (works best in small groups or in pairs)
Bean-bag toss - take turns tossing sensations into the associated emotion bucket
Remember different people experience emotions differently. It’s okay if there is disagreement as to which ‘bucket’ a sensation belongs. If this happens frequently, take note of the trickier sensations. The next time a child is experiencing that sensation or emotion, draw attention towards what you’re noticing and what you can see.
Sensation/Emotion art
Children can be very perceptive. Encourage children in creating emotion/sensation art activities.
Have a child draw an emotion (you can also link this to our thoughts/emotion activity - coming soon!)
Encourage the child to also draw the sensations they notice in their body when they’re experiencing this emotion.
To provide support, encourage children to think through different body parts and areas you’ve discussed during the previous activities. It’s a lot to think about and pull together!
Encourage ‘sensation checks’ throughout the day.
Periodically pause to check in on the sensations you notice within your body
As the adult, model checking your own sensations.
Encourage children to do the same - sharing what they notice and what that suggests about their emotion and/or physiological need.
Remember, if a child is actively angry and/or having a meltdown, it is not helpful make any additional demands. Now is not the time to explore the sensations a child is noticing that suggests s/he is feeling angry - that time as passed ;-).
So there you have it - the steps that I take to teach children about sensations. It’s a lot of information so my biggest piece of advice is to take it one step at a time. Also, it will take time to support children in understanding and using these concepts. It’s okay and best practice to take your time moving through these steps. This is a concept that you’ll want to repeatedly go back to and revisit. It also pairs beautifully with lessons linking thoughts to emotions and also lessons targeting use of calming strategies (if we don’t understand our sensations, how do we know if a strategy is working or if we need a strategy?). For more examples and explicit teaching activities, check out Sensations and Emotions: Using Sensations to Teach Children about Emotions.