Toolbox Tuesday: Feelings Scales

Time for another Toolbox Tuesday! I will use these weekly posts to share both old & new items that are part of my School Counseling toolbox. Today's post is on Feelings Scales. No link to this resource on Amazon, as these are something that I created myself.

Used as Likert-type scales, these scales have a visual component to assist students in identifying their current feeling or anger level. 

This one isn't anything fancy, but many of my students love Spongebob and respond well to counseling interventions that incorporate him.  I simply completed a Google Image search for "Spongebob Feelings" and found this assortment of faces. Afterwards, I arranged them so that Spongebob became progressively happier.  I then aligned them with numbers 1-10 (Pictured below is actually a bulletin board border found at the DOLLAR STORE!).

I begin many of my individual sessions by having students "check-in" with Spongebob. This helps me to determine what they are currently feeling/what kind of mood they are in. Once they have identified with a face and the accompanying number, I might ask them things like: "What makes you a ten today?", "Oh, a five? What needs to happen for you to reach a 7 today?" This "check-in" adds a sort of routine and consistency to my meetings with students. 

The scale below is similar to the Spongebob Scale, but it is shaped like a thermometer and students use it to identify their level of anger, frustration, etc. You can modify the sayings that I used, or you could add numbers to various intensifying shades of red. 

If you're in a bit of a time crunch, a simple Google Image search for "feelings scales for kids" will provide you with an assortment of images that you can easily print and utilize with students!