Emotions Sensory Bag Activity for Kids

Helping kids understand their emotions does not always need to involve sitting down for a serious conversation. Sometimes, the best learning happens through play, and this emotions sensory bag is a simple hands-on activity that combines sensory play with learning about feelings.

Kids can squish, push and move the gel around with their hands to search for the hidden emotion faces inside the bag. Each time they discover a new emotion, you can talk about what that feeling might mean, when they have felt that way before and what might help when they experience a difficult emotion.

This emotions sensory bag DIY is easy to put together with just a few simple supplies, and it works well for preschool children, younger kids and anyone who enjoys tactile sensory activities.

What Is a Sensory Bag?

A sensory bag is a sealed bag filled with materials that children can explore using their hands. Unlike a sensory bin, everything stays safely contained inside the bag, making sensory bags a great option when you want an activity with very little mess.

Children can press, squish, slide and move the contents around through the plastic. This gives them plenty of sensory input while also encouraging fine motor skills and hand strength.

Sensory bags can be filled in all kinds of different ways. You might have seen an oil sensory bag, ocean sensory bag, pre-writing sensory bag, a monster sensory bag or themed ideas such as a hibernation sensory bag.

For this activity, we are using colored gel and hidden emotion stickers to create an emotions sensory play activity.

The dark color makes the stickers harder to see, turning the sensory bag into a simple search-and-find game.

Squishy Ocean Sensory Bag

Why Are Emotion Activities Important for Kids?

Learning to recognize and name emotions is an important skill for children. Before a child can explain how they feel or find a way to calm themselves, they need the words to identify those feelings.

Emotion activities give kids a relaxed way to explore different expressions and talk about feelings without putting them on the spot.

A child might find an angry face in the sensory bag, for example, and you can talk together about what anger looks like, what can make someone feel angry and what they can do when they need help to calm down.

These conversations can help children understand that all emotions are normal. Happiness, sadness, worry, anger, excitement and frustration are all part of life.

For preschool kids and younger children, playful activities can make these ideas much easier to understand. Instead of simply asking, “How do you feel?”, you are giving them something visual and hands-on to work with.

20+ Empowering Emotions and Feelings Activities For Kids

The Benefits of Sensory Play

Sensory play gives children the opportunity to explore through touch, sight and movement. In this activity, kids use their hands and fingers to push the thick gel around and reveal the hidden emotion faces.

This type of play can support fine motor skills as children press with individual fingers, squeeze the bag and carefully move the gel from one area to another. These small hand movements help build skills that children later use for writing, drawing, cutting and other school activities.

Sensory activities can also offer a calm, focused way to play. Some children enjoy repeating the same movements, squishing the gel and watching the color move around inside the bag.

Every child experiences sensory play differently, so allow them plenty of time to explore the bag in their own way.

What You Need to Make an Emotions Sensory Bag

You only need a few simple materials to make this activity:

• Emotion stickers
• Ziploc bag
• Clear gel
• Food coloring
• Water
• Strong tape for sealing the bag

For a small Ziploc bag, we used around ½ cup of clear gel and ⅛ cup of water. You can adjust the amounts slightly depending on the size of your bag and the consistency of your gel.

How to Make an Emotions Sensory Bag

This emotions sensory bag is quick to prepare, although you will want to make sure the bag is securely sealed before giving it to children.

Your emotions sensory bag is now ready to explore.

Different Ways to Play With Your Emotions Sensory Bag

There are plenty of ways to use this activity, so you can adapt the play to suit your child’s age and skills.

For simple free sensory play, let your child use their hands to squish and move the gel around. They can search for the hidden faces at their own pace and see how many emotions they can discover.

You can also ask your child to name each emotion as they find it. Talk about the clues they can see on the face. Is the mouth smiling or frowning? What are the eyebrows doing? How can we tell whether someone looks worried, angry or happy?

Another idea is to ask children to copy each facial expression. This can be a fun way to help younger kids notice how faces change with different feelings.

You could also make an emotion card showing all the faces hidden inside the bag. Laminate the card and let kids check off each emotion as they find it.

For older preschool children, try asking questions such as, “Can you remember a time when you felt like this?” or “What could help someone who is feeling this way?”

You could even use the bag as a quiet calm-down activity. There is no need to turn every moment into a lesson. Sometimes children may simply want to sit and slowly move the gel around.

Emotions Sensory Play for Toddlers and Preschoolers

If you are making an emotions sensory bag for toddlers or very young children, always supervise the activity closely and check the bag before each use.

Double bagging can give you an extra layer of protection, and strong tape around the opening helps keep the contents safely inside.

You can also keep the conversation very simple. Name the emotions, copy the faces and use familiar examples from everyday life. Over time, children begin to build a bigger vocabulary for talking about their own feelings.

More Sensory Activities for Kids

If your kids enjoyed this emotions sensory activity, we have plenty more sensory activities to try here on In The Playroom.

From sensory bins and sensory bottles to simple mess-free sensory bags, these activities give children lots of opportunities to explore, play and build important skills with their hands.

Sensory play can be adapted for different ages, themes and interests, making it easy to find an idea that works for your child.

• Snowman Sensory Bin 
• Simple Glitter Sensory Bottle
• Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin
• Savannah Animal Sensory Bin
• Easy DIY Unicorn Sensory Bottle

Easy DIY Unicorn Sensory Bottle

More Emotion Activities for Kids

Learning about feelings is something children can return to again and again as they grow.

Try more of our emotion activities for kids to help children recognize facial expressions, build their feelings vocabulary and find playful ways to talk about what is happening inside.

Activities like emotion games, printable feelings resources, calming activities and emotions sensory bottles can all give kids different ways to explore this important topic.

This simple sensory bag is a fun place to start. Kids get all the enjoyment of squishing and searching through the gel while learning to spot and talk about different emotions at the same time.

• Emotions Playdough Mats (Free Printable)
• Emotions Flower Face Craft
• Feelings & Emotions Coloring Pages (Pixel Color by Number)

Emotions Playdough Mats (Free Printable)

If you found this emotions sensory bag activity helpful, please share this blog post so that other parents, teachers and caregivers can try it with their kids too!