Unit 1: My Strong Self — Children learn to listen to their body as a source of information and build the skill of interoceptive awareness. Grades 1 to 3, designed for the classroom and the home.
Interoceptive awareness is a foundational skill for emotional regulation. Children who can identify body based signals early, before dysregulation peaks, have significantly more capacity to make intentional choices about how to respond.
Research in somatic psychology and polyvagal theory suggests that the body registers emotional information before the conscious mind processes it. Teaching children to tune into these signals is not just an emotional literacy skill. It is a nervous system regulation skill.
For children who report not feeling anything in their body or who find this concept confusing, this is worth noting. Some children have learned to disconnect from body signals as a protective response. Approach with curiosity not correction. Ask: What do you notice, even something small?
Hall, S. (2023). Shaping identities: How social work education made me white. Master of Social Work Thesis, McMaster University.
Porges, S.W. (2011). The polyvagal theory. W.W. Norton and Company.
You: We are going to do something a little different today. We are going to colour a map of our feelings. Not what feelings look like on the outside. What they feel like on the inside.
I am going to say an emotion and I want you to close your eyes for a second and think of a time you felt that way. Really try to remember it. Then notice: where did you feel it in your body? Your chest? Your stomach? Your throat? Your hands? Your legs?
Let us start with excited. Think of something that made you really excited recently.
[Pause 10 to 15 seconds. Let children sit with it.]
Where did you feel that in your body? Colour that part of your body outline in yellow.
[Repeat this process for each of the six emotions, giving children time to actually recall and feel before they colour.]
When everyone has finished, ask: Did anyone feel an emotion somewhere surprising? Did any two emotions feel similar in your body? Which emotion was the easiest to find? Which was the hardest?
There are no wrong answers here. Your body is telling your story.
Some children will feel self conscious about this activity especially in a classroom setting. Make it clear that nobody needs to share their map if they do not want to. The map is for them. Its value comes from the noticing, not the sharing.
The body check in is most effective as a proactive tool rather than a crisis intervention. Once a child is in the middle of an emotional surge the window for this kind of reflective practice narrows significantly.
Teaching children to use this check in before hard situations builds the habit of self awareness as a precursor to action rather than a response to breakdown. Over time this becomes automatic and requires less conscious effort.
For children who are frequently dysregulated, practising this check in during genuinely calm moments first is essential before attempting to use it as a regulation strategy.
For children who struggle to identify body sensations: Start with the most concrete physical sensations — heart beating fast, stomach feeling tight, hands feeling shaky — rather than more subtle ones. Build from the obvious to the subtle over multiple sessions.
For neurodivergent children or those with sensory processing differences: Interoception can be genuinely more difficult for some children due to neurological differences in how body signals are processed. This is not a failure of self awareness. Adjust the activity to focus on what they can notice, however small, and affirm that as valid and important.
For children who have experienced trauma: Body based work can be activating for children with trauma histories. Watch for signs of dissociation or distress and offer the option to observe rather than participate. Never require a child to stay with a body sensation that is causing distress.
The body mapping activity can be completed verbally for children who find colouring difficult or distressing. The facilitator or a peer can note verbally where the child says they feel each emotion.
For children with limited colour vision: Use patterns instead of colours — dots for excited, stripes for nervous, and so on. Provide a pattern key on the worksheet.
Use this card before any hard situation.
Then go in.
Play emotion charades with a body focus.
One person acts out an emotion using only body language. No words, no facial expressions if you can help it. Just how your body holds the feeling.
Others guess the emotion.
Read each scenario and decide: Is this a worry or a gut feeling? Worries are often general what ifs. Gut feelings are often specific to a situation or person.
Each day this week notice one thing your body told you. Write it here.