Preschoolers need to understand what they are feeling. Tyler may know that Sophie just laughed at him when he fell down, and he can feel the heat rising to his face and the tears coming to his eyes. But he may not be able to say that he is experiencing a combination of emotions including anger, embarrassment and sadness.
In order to teach emotions to preschoolers, one effective tool is to help them by labeling how they feel. When a preschooler cries, tell the child you know he or she is feeling sad; when someone takes away a toy, say you bet he or she feels angry. This way, your preschooler will begin to associate feelings with the words that define them.
There are a range of books you can use to help with a child's emotional vocabulary. Try "Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day," by Jamie Lee Curtis. This book includes a range of emotions as well as vivid descriptions and illustrations to show preschoolers what those emotions look like when someone experiences them.
Children need to learn to relate facial expressions with emotions. When a classmate is angry, their face may scrunch up or their eyes might close. When a classmate is sad, he or she might cry or put their head down. If children are going to learn empathy for others, they need to first learn to identify how other people are feeling.
Help children with this skill by calling out emotions during circle time and asking children to make faces that go with those emotions. You may also ask them to draw those emotions on paper or to point to a photo of someone experiencing that emotion (from a selection you will provide). When you watch a movie together or read a story, you might pause and ask how a character is feeling and how your preschooler knows that.
Help preschoolers identify how they feel by letting them express it regularly. When they walk into the classroom every morning, have them put their name next to their emotion on an emotions board. On a sheet of poster board, put names and facial expressions of several common emotions. Kids can have their names on cardboard with velcro or written on a clothespin. Their task is to identify how they feel and put their name next to that emotion. They can always change their name position as their emotions change. If you are home with a preschooler, you can adapt this activity by displaying an emotion board on your refrigerator and only using one name.
When conflicts arise among children, ask them to explain how they feel to the other child or children. Teach children that if someone is sad we should not laugh at them; if someone is angry, we should try to understand why. Help them learn to positively express themselves without physical violence or negative reactions.