the basics

Feelings do not discriminate by age - everyone is susceptible to feeling the feels! Since they are here to stay, why not start emotional exploration early with The Recovery Box's Student Wheel? 
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This wheel is designed for kids (ages 7+) who are just beginning to tap into emotional labeling. This tool offers them a more expansive vocabulary for the feelings that they are certainly experiencing. The Student Wheel provides a visual for feeling intensity so they can more precisely identify and communicate how they are feeling. 

Your Step by Step Guide
  1. Ask your child/student/client to identify the teardrop with the heading the most relate to them (i.e. "Angry" or "Happy"). 
  2. Ask them to read through the feelings listed in the word bank - notice how the feelings move from lower to higher intensity as the color becomes darker. 
  3. After reading through the list, ask them what fits best for them. 
  4. If they are struggling to label their emotion, you can model the process by labeling your emotion first.​​
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The Research that inspired us

The research on how we teach our kids emotion is changing, the days of face charts of long gone! Recent research has shown that facial expressions related to emotion are more closely tied to how others in their social circle react in similar situations rather than how the child experiences the situation themselves (Ho, 2020). The constructionist approach to emotional development places a high importance on building a strong emotional vocabulary for children (Hoemann, 2019). Thus we've taken this research and created our Student Wheel, perfect for ages 7 and up! This wheel will guide individuals to dig deeper than sad or angry and create an emotional vocabulary that feels more aligned with their internal experience. 
​Barrett, L. F. (2017). The theory of constructed emotion: an active inference account of interoception and categorization. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 12(1), 1-23.
Hoemann, K., Xu, F., & Barrett, L. F. (2019). Emotion words, emotion concepts, and emotional development in children: A constructionist hypothesis. Developmental psychology, 55(9), 1830.
Ho, M. T. (2020). The essentialist and constructivist views of emotions: Implications for parents.