The Power of Emotion Wheels
In today’s fast-paced world, over-stimulating world it’s easy to lose touch with our emotions. Many of us were never taught how to identify or process feelings in healthy ways, leaving us ill-equipped to manage life’s inevitable ups and downs. Whether you're a parent raising emotionally aware children, an educator fostering social-emotional learning, or someone looking to deepen self-awareness, the emotion wheel can be a transformative resource.
The emotion wheel is one of many powerful tools that can help you and your family or classroom navigate the complex world of emotions with greater clarity, empathy, and understanding.
What Is an Emotion Wheel?
The emotion wheel is a visual framework designed to help individuals identify and articulate their emotions. It typically begins with a set of core emotions at the center—such as happiness, sadness, anger, and fear—and expands outward into more nuanced feelings. This layered design enables children 4 an up to recognize how broader emotions manifest in specific ways, making it easier to understand and name what they’re experiencing.
The concept was popularized by psychologist Dr. Robert Plutchik, who developed the Plutchik Wheel of Emotions in 1980. Over the years, it has been adapted into various formats to suit different audiences, including simplified versions for children and more detailed iterations for therapists and educators.
Why Emotion Wheels Are Essential
Emotion wheels serve several purposes, all of which contribute to greater emotional intelligence (EQ). Here are some of their key benefits:
1. Builds Emotional Awareness: One of the biggest hurdles to emotional well-being is the inability to identify what you’re feeling. Terms like “good” or “bad” don’t capture the full spectrum of human emotions. An emotion wheel allows you to pinpoint feelings like “disappointed,” “overwhelmed,” or “hopeful,” providing greater depth and understanding.
2. Enhances Communication: By helping individuals articulate their emotions, emotion wheels improve interpersonal communication. When you can accurately name your feelings, it’s easier to express needs, resolve conflicts, and foster empathy.
3. Supports Emotional Regulation: Identifying emotions is the first step in managing them. An emotion wheel can serve as a guide for understanding triggers and choosing appropriate coping strategies. For instance, recognizing that anger stems from feeling disrespected can help you address the root cause rather than lashing out. We'll speak to this a bit more later!
4. Encourages Empathy: Using an emotion wheel with others—especially children—helps them understand and relate to the emotions of those around them. This shared language fosters connection and reduces misunderstandings.
5. Aids in Mental Health and Therapy: Emotion wheels are often used in therapy to help clients unpack and process their feelings. For parents, they can also be a tool to teach children how to navigate challenging emotions in a safe and healthy way.
How to Use an Emotion Wheel
The above is perfect example of how an emotion wheel can help. As humans we feel it all - anger, sadness, anxiety, guilt, shame. And it's important as explained above, to learn how to move through these emotions. This is where somatic awareness comes in - we'll touch on that very shortly and how to explore with children. Whether you’re introducing an emotion wheel to your family or using it for personal growth, here are practical ways to make the most of this tool:
1. Identify Your Core Emotion: Start at the center of the wheel and choose the core emotion that best matches your current state. Are you feeling happy, sad, angry, fearful, surprised, or disgusted? These broad categories provide a starting point.
2. Explore Specific Feelings: Move outward from the center to find a more specific term for your emotion. For example:
If you’re feeling angry, is it closer to frustration, annoyance, or rage?
If you’re feeling happy, is it joy, pride, or contentment?
Are you feeling more than one emotion?
3. Reflect on Triggers: Once you’ve identified your emotion, think about what caused it. For example:
What happened to trigger this feeling?
What thoughts or beliefs are tied to this emotion?
4. Choose a Response: Understanding your emotions enables you to respond intentionally. For example:
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you might take a break or ask for help.
If you’re feeling hopeful, you might channel that energy into a productive task.
Perhaps you need a hug or a moment in nature!
I would suggest introducing the emotion wheel during calm or happy moments, to explore more nuanced emotions and how they are showing up in our body. Accessing our higher brain to explain and problem solve is challenging when we are outside of our window of tolerance or are feeling 'activated'. You can also incorporate it as part of your day, for example:
Morning check-ins: “How are you feeling today?”
Conflict resolution: “Let’s figure out what we’re feeling and why.”
Bedtime reflection: “What emotions did we experience today?”
It's important to model this when we are working with children, and also helps them to become interested in what we are doing - reducing resistance. Children learn by example, so model the behavior you want them to adopt. Use the wheel to identify and express your own emotions: “I’m feeling overwhelmed because I have too much on my plate today, so I'm going to go take a moment to close my eyes and breath."
I did this often when my eldest was only one. She would either do her breathing exercises, or at two, let me know she needed a moment. She would find a bolster and go lay down in her room to breathe. You will be amazed at what they pick up when we also practice these tools!
Emotion Wheels in the Classroom
Educators can also use emotion wheels to teach social-emotional learning (SEL). Here are some classroom-friendly ideas:
1. Emotional Check-Ins: Start the school day with a group check-in where students share how they’re feeling using the emotion wheel. This helps create a supportive classroom environment.
2. Conflict Resolution: Use the wheel during disagreements to help students identify their emotions and understand their classmates’ perspectives.
3. Creative Expression: Incorporate the emotion wheel into art or writing assignments. For example:
Choose an emotion from the wheel and draw a picture that represents it
Write a story about a character experiencing that emotion
You can create your own wheel with your own colours or print one onto a pillow
Taking the Emotion Wheel PDF a Step Further
Social emotional learning is what my work is all about! As a Counsellor, Founder of a Registered Children's Yoga School, Craniosacral & Somatic Therapist, my mission is to empower parents, educators, and children with the tools to understand their emotions and bodies, so we can learn healthier ways of being.
While words are helpful, sometimes we can't connect with the words, especially when we are upset. This is when exploring the feeling or sensation through colour, weather, or how it feels in our body is helpful. We can ask the sensation in our body how it's helping us or what we need to know. This practice of acknowledging the emotions can help to process them, so they don't become "stuck" in our bodies and nervous system.
In order to connect with our emotions and sensations, the environment needs to feel safe for the individual. Sometimes this means a hug, walking away from a trigger, or going into nature before we can connect and process. We are all unique. This is why I also really like Body Mapping, and why I created my Award Winning Children's Yoga Cards!
These tools are a gateway to emotional growth, connection, and healing. By using them regularly, individuals and families can develop greater self-awareness, build emotional resilience, and create stronger, more empathetic relationships.
Together, let’s build a more emotionally aware, healthier, and connected world!
More Tools for You:
Explore Body Mapping in our 33 Days of Self Care course or any of the below!
Get our Award Winning Children's Yoga Cards with fun somatic practices for 2-9 year olds!
Explore our Award Winning Empowered Educators or Heart Centred Parenting course!
