PRETEEN MINISTRY GAME ON FEELINGS

Here’s a fun game that opens up a discussion or lesson about feelings.

Since preteens are in transition from childhood to adulthood, they feel both negative and positive emotions more intensely.

It’s important for students to realize that both negative and positive emotions are good. They’re both a part of being human.

The danger of negative emotions is when you ignore them, don’t listen to them, or express them in an unhealthy way. You don’t want to allow them to drive you to make bad decisions. They’re necessary to experience because they have something to tell you.

Positive emotions are great because they help you experience life to the fullest. Emotions like love, acceptance, and hope are God’s gift to us.

I think your students will enjoy this game, and will benefit from a discussion or lesson on this topic.

– Nick Diliberto, Preteen Ministry

PRETEEN GAME ON FEELINGS: KNOW YOUR EMOJIS

Written by: Rob Quinn

SUPPLIES:

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

Give each student one copy of the emoji feelings chart without the answers on it. Instruct students not to look at them until you say GO.

When the game begins, students will attempt to correctly label each emoji as fast as they can.

They cannot use phones, tablets, or ask each other for help, to get the answers.

Give students 3 minutes to guess as many as they can and write them down.

Once the 3 minutes is up, give them 3 more minutes to use phones, tablets, or ask each other, to try and figure out the rest of the them, or to double check their answers.

Give a prize to the top three students with correct emojis.

TEACH

Don’t you just love emojis?!?

You see them everywhere. In fact, they even made a movie about emojis!

Sometimes we use emojis to tell our friends and family how we feel.

This makes me think about our feelings in general.

How many feelings do we actually have?

Let’s make a quick list of as many feelings as you can think of.

(Write them down on a dry erase board or giant piece of paper on wall.)

These are awesome, but I still have a question… why do we have feelings? (Allow responses.)

Maybe you have never thought about why we have feelings, but God designed us that way.

You have both positive emotions and negative emotions.

The danger of negative emotions is when you ignore them, don’t listen to them, or express them in an unhealthy way. You don’t want to allow them to drive you to make bad decisions.

Negative emotions help you realize something isn’t right. Feelings like fear, anger, disappointment, sadness, rejection, etc… all serve a good purpose. They’re necessary to experience because they have something to tell you.

Sometimes the emotion is telling you something needs to change.

Sometimes you just need to experience the feelings and learn to accept a difficult situation.

It’s important for God to be a part of this process. Instead of letting your emotions drive you, pause and ask God what the message is that this emotion is trying to tell you. Ask for his help to deal with the emotion in a healthy way.

Of course, negative emotions aren’t pleasant to experience. But they get our attention, and that’s good. The goal is to listen to what those emotions are telling you. Ask for God’s help and guidance.

And sometimes you might need the help of your parents or other trusted adults in your life to help process your feelings.

Positive emotions are great because they help you experience life to the fullest. Emotions like love, acceptance, and hope are God’s gift to us.

When experiencing positive emotions, it is an opportunity to be grateful and thankful to God.

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Which emoji do you use the most? Why?
  2. When have you been sad in the last month? Explain.
  3. What could that sadness been telling you?
  4. When have you felt angry in the last month? Explain.
  5. What could that angry feeling be telling you?
  6. What makes you feel happy?
  7. When have you felt happiness in the last month?
  8. Name as many positive emotions as you possibly can.
  9. How do those emotions (go through each one) help you experience life to the fullest?

About Rob Quinn, the Writer of this Lesson

Rob has nearly 10 years of experience in preteen ministry. He is married to an amazing woman Jodi, who just so happens to be the Children’s Ministry Director at his church. They have one beautiful daughter Sydni, and an 8-pound attack dog named Lilly.

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