Simple activities you can do together
Helping Kids Explore Feelings, Thoughts, and Identity
Children make sense of themselves and the world through conversation, reflection, and creativity. These printable activities help adults and kids explore emotions, identity, and thinking patterns together in ways that are simple, meaningful, and easy to try.
Each activity takes just a few minutes to begin and can open the door to deeper conversations and connection.
Free printable activities from the Walden Wise CoCreator Collection
Activities to Try with a Child in Your Life
These simplace activities help children notice feelings, reflect on their expereinces and explore who are they becoming
The 5-Minute Poem
The 5-minute poem is a fun, creative exercise that explores the sights, sounds, people and experiences that have made you who you are. It’s a free verse poem - just write and don’t worry about making the words rhyme.
The only rule is that every line starts with “I am from …”. The idea is to keep letting the words flow for 5 minutes and see what comes up! For young children, CoCreators can write for them. For older kids, CoCreators can do the activity alongside the child.
My Identity Tree
Start with a simple picture of a tree (you can draw it, the child can, or use our blank, downloadable template below). Think of this activity like using a coloring book - use pencils, crayons, markers, whatever you have on hand. Encourage the child to use different colors for different identities (or some other way of marking them). Use different branches of the tree to show the child’s identities.
Brain Mistakes
Sometimes, the thoughts that go along with our feelings are unhelpful, untrue, or both. Everyone's brain produces “untrue” or “unhelpful” thoughts from time to time. It’s important to fact-check the thoughts your brain comes up with. This is especially key for thoughts that are critical or judgmental of your feelings, yourself, or others. In this activity write down different thoughts you notice, such as, "I'm probably going to do badly on this test." Then ask yourself, are these really true? Write down the true thoughts, for instance, "I pass most of the tests I write." or, "I do the best I can on my tests.
Why These Activities Matter
Children develop emotional health through everyday moments of reflection and conversation. Simple activities like these help kids learn to notice their feelings, think about their experiences, and talk with trusted adults about what matters to them.
These shared moments of reflection are a powerful way to build emotional awareness and connection.
Explore the Full CoCreator Activity Collection
Walden Wise activities are designed to help adults and children practice emotional awareness together through conversation, reflection, and creativity.