Feelings Thermometer
A simple scale from calm to overwhelmed that helps your child name how big a feeling is — and choose a strategy before it gets too big.
- Category · Big Feelings & Emotional Regulation
- Emotional Regulation Resource
- Ages · Early childhood · Elementary · Tween
- Home · School
A feelings thermometer is a vertical scale, usually from 1 to 5, that gives feelings a size. Numbers and colors are easier to grasp than words when feelings are big.
How to build it
- Draw a thermometer or print a simple one with 1 at the bottom and 5 at the top.
- Add a color for each level — green at the bottom, moving to red at the top.
- Write one feeling word at each level, like calm, annoyed, frustrated, angry, overwhelmed.
How to use it
- Practice at calm times first: “Where are you on the thermometer right now?”
- Attach one simple strategy to the top levels — “When you reach a 4, we take three slow breaths.”
- Use it yourself too. Naming your own level models the skill.
- Never use it as a punishment. It is a tool for noticing, not for judging.
The goal is not to avoid big feelings. It is to notice them earlier, when a simple strategy still has a chance to help.