Feeling
Naming a single feeling in the moment is hard when the inside is messy and words are missing. A picture gives a child something to point at instead of having to explain. See how the support works below.
♂Feeling
A happy child with a heart and sound waves above them.
About this visual support
A feeling can be strong and clear in the body yet impossible to put into words. For a child still building an emotional vocabulary, the question of how you feel is sometimes as hard as a test, and when the answer does not come, it is easy to turn inward or react with an outburst instead of words.
Visual support gives the feeling a shape to point at. When the child can choose a picture that fits, a happy face, a sad one, an angry one, the inside suddenly becomes something that can be shared. The picture works as a bridge between what is felt and what can be said, and that bridge is often what is missing in the moment.
A tip: do not just ask how the child feels, but let them point at a picture and build from there with short words. Starting from the picture is easier than starting from an empty question. In the Routined app you can add a feelings check as a small recurring step, so the child gets used to noticing and naming their state.
Use this image in a schedule
Build your own visual schedule with this image and download it as a print-ready PDF. Completely free.
More similar visual supports
Calm Activity
A boy sits cross-legged on the floor reading an open book.
Evening calm
A picture of a dark blue night sky with a moon and stars above a house and some ...
Feelings
A face surrounded by icons for happiness, sadness, a cloud, a drop and a heart.
How I feel
A child with a thought bubble showing happy, neutral and sad faces.
Mood
A head silhouette with three mood faces rotating around it.
Wind-down time
A person sits calmly cross-legged wrapped in a blanket holding a steaming mug.
Bedtime stories
An adult reads a bedtime story to a child in bed.
Bedtime Story
A woman with a ponytail sits on the edge of a bed reading a large book while a c...
Take the visual supports with you
In Routined you build schedules from these pictures, add timers and voice instructions, and your child follows the day on their own.
* 14-day free trial included for new users.