Toddler Emotions Flash Cards: Feelings, Calm-Down and Repair Cards for Big Feelings, Ages 2 to 5
Forty printable cards for toddler emotions. Ten naming cards (so they have a word for it), ten body cards (so they can find it in their body), ten calm-down cards (one small action each), and ten reset cards (for the after). No "happy face / sad face" reductionism. Made by a parent who has been on the kitchen floor.
Instant download. Print at home on A4 or US Letter. Your receipt and re-download link arrive by email.
Look inside
Pages from the file you'll download, not a mock-up.
My oldest had a meltdown in a Target parking lot at age three that lasted forty-seven minutes. I timed it. He could not tell me what was wrong because he genuinely did not know. He just had a body that felt like static.
These cards are the thing I wish I’d had in my bag. Not a discipline tool. A vocabulary.
What’s inside
Forty cards, printable as a deck:
- Ten naming cards. Furious, jealous, embarrassed, lonely, disappointed, overwhelmed, scared, jumpy, ashamed, missing-someone. With one small line drawing per card. Not happy face / sad face.
- Ten body cards. Where the feeling lives. “My chest is fast.” “My hands won’t stop.” “My ears hurt and they don’t really hurt.” “My belly is full of TV static.”
- Ten calm-down cards. One small action per card. Drink water in three slow sips. Push the wall with both hands. Squeeze and let go, three times. Hum into a pillow. The kind of thing a body can do without a working brain.
- Ten reset cards. For the after. What just happened. What we’ll do next time. Who’s still on the team. “We are still a team.” “I forgive you. You forgive yourself.”
Each card is about the size of a playing card when printed at 100%, with a slightly larger format option for younger kids who need bigger pictures.
How to use it
Not in the middle of the meltdown. After. When everyone has breath again. Spread three or four out on the floor. “Was it any of these?” Let them point.
Over weeks, they’ll point at the same one a lot. That’s the one you want to know about.
Who this is for
Parents of two-to-five-year-olds who feel things like an open faucet.
Grandparents who want to know what to do besides offer candy.
Preschool teachers, if it helps. Personal use only, see below.
Therapists for kids, for the same reason.
Not for: behavior charts. Star systems. This isn’t a discipline tool. It’s a vocabulary tool. If you use it as a discipline tool it stops working in about a week.
Format
Instant-download PDF, US Letter + A4. Cut and use as cards, or hole-punch and ring them onto a clip. Personal use only.
From Soothemade Notes, a small apothecary of printables, planners, and cards for the unphotographed parts of new parenthood. Made slowly, in plain language.
