More and more often in my practice I come across preschool children whose intellectual sphere “runs ahead of the locomotive.” I understand how pleasant it is for parents to see that a child at 4 years old reads books, at 5 years old solves mathematical problems, and at 6 years old already knows all the formulas in physics. But, unfortunately, there is another side to the coin: he often does not keep up with the intellectual sphere emotional. It can be very difficult for such children to cope with their emotions; their feelings exist as if separately from them and often cause behavioral disorders or psychosomatic manifestations. I would like to take away books and other means of obtaining information from such children in order to slow down their never-ending desire to know more. Working with such children in the context of various art therapy methods, including the sandbox, I noticed that their inner world is full of experiences, conflicts and an incredible amount of energy that they cannot cope with. I understand that one meeting with a psychologist a week is not enough for the effective development of the emotional sphere, so I have collected here several exercises and tasks that ideally should be done every day - until the child has fully mastered this area. It will also be interesting for parents to practice their skills. But before moving on to the exercises, I’ll tell you what not to do: - tell children NOT to feel (don’t be angry, don’t be afraid, don’t laugh, don’t be offended, etc.) - hide from child’s own experiences (children always notice if something is wrong, and by trying to hide feelings, you only form the attitude that it is wrong to express them) - immediately solve the “problem”, i.e. do everything so that the child stops being angry , cry, be afraid, etc. (if the child does not live the emotion to the end, does not “suffer” it, he will never know what is behind it). And now the exercises. 1. “Guess the emotion” Preparation Print out pictograms of emotions, for example these, or make cards: find images of people or characters who experience certain emotions (joy, pleasure, fear, sadness, anger, anger, resentment, surprise, guilt, calm, etc. ) and stick it on cardboard. Game Participants take turns taking one card, without showing it to others, and depict without words, using facial expressions and gestures (in a more complex version, only facial expressions) the emotion from the card, the task of the rest is to guess the emotion. 2. “Finish the phrase” No preparation required Players take turns finishing phrases like “I am happy when...”, “I am afraid when...” “I am angry when...” “Mom (dad) is angry when ... " "I'm sad if ... ". This exercise is good to do with the whole family, passing each other a ball or a soft toy. 3. “Make up a story” Preparation The same cards with images of people or characters experiencing emotions that you prepared for the first exercise will do. Game The participant chooses a card (or takes it at random) and comes up with a story about this character. 4. “Draw an emotion” Preparation You will need a sheet of paper, gouache, brushes and water. Game Choose one of the emotions (preferably the one with which the child copes worst). Ask your child to choose the color that she most resembles. First, let the child color the water in the glass this color, and then offer to draw this emotion on a piece of paper. I think that’s enough for a start. Good luck! Write comments, ask questions, tell us what worked and what didn’t.. 🙏