Helping to identify the feelings of others through books

What you need 

• Books with illustrations showing different emotions 

What to do 

1. While reading, chat with your toddler about how the characters might be feeling.  
2. Look at the characters’ faces and describe what you see.  
3. Encourage your toddler to express the emotions they see in books in healthy ways, such as by pulling a sad face when they think someone is upset or by smiling when they see a character is happy.  
4. You could use puppets or comment on feelings when playing together too. 

Good to know 

Your toddler’s sense of empathy is in its early stages of development and reading stories aloud will support this.  

Your toddler might learn to recognise other people's moods through facial expressions and reading picture books can give a better understanding of emotions.