Enter the Academy of Emotional Magic: Unlock the Code of Emotions – A Series of Psychological Lectures on Emotions for Primary School Students

Emotions are a colourful galaxy flowing from the heart, the dancing notes of the soul on the journey of growth.

They are a mix of delight and unease, combining joy with underlying confusion.

Only by perceiving and recognising emotions can we understand and care for them. This semester, Ms. Candy Yu from the “Soul Nook” Psychological Counselling Centre led students from all year groups into the Academy of Emotional Magic, starting a wonderful journey to decode emotions.

Fun Challenges: Unlock Your Emotional Admission Ticket

At the beginning of the lecture, a lively “Finger Catch” game instantly warmed up the atmosphere. As the children caught and dodged with their fingers, they truly experienced the rapid shifts of different moods. Younger students eagerly shared their joy at escaping and regret at being caught.

Mina Lu from Class 2D said, “In the Finger Catch game, I realised my mood isn’t a straight line. Sometimes I’m excited, sometimes calm, and sometimes nervous.”

Older students reflected more deeply on the causes of emotions and their impact on behaviour. A lively emotion-word relay game further revealed the rich diversity of the emotional world.

Nelson Lin from Class 4F said, “We played the Catch-and-Dodge game, and after it finished, many classmates shared completely different feelings. I thought it was amazing and wondered: why do we all see and feel things differently? Later, Ms. Candy explained that everyone views things from different angles, so our moods vary.”

PART2

Magic Competition: Master the Skill of Recognising Emotions

The “Emotion Guess” activity sparked great curiosity! Ms. Candy showed emotion cards, paired with different tones and real-life scenarios, asking children to read expressions, observe actions, listen to voices and identify feelings.

Younger students easily learnt to recognise the four basic emotions: happiness, anger, sadness and fear. Older students took on greater challenges, distinguishing complex emotions such as pride, embarrassment and guilt.

王汐媱

“I learned that to tell how someone feels, I can look at their face, watch their movements and listen to their voice.”

陈亦忻

“I have learnt to feel how others feel from their tone of voice and show care for them. Once, my friend told me anxiously that she had lost her eraser. I could sense that she was worried about being scolded by her mother, so I gave her a new eraser right away and helped her cheer up again.”

桂聿斐

“When I talk to friends on the phone, I can tell their mood from their tone. If their voice shakes, they might be scared; if they speak haltingly, they might be sad. Then I can comfort them straight away.”

周楚皓

“I learned that basic emotions are natural – happiness, anger, sadness and fear are shared by all humans. Complex emotions develop through interactions with others, like embarrassment and despair.”

The children were delighted to discover that 93% of human emotional communication is expressed through facial expressions, body language, tone of voice and situations – key clues for recognising emotions!

PART3

Unlock the Code: Understand the Secrets of Emotions

Afterwards, Ms. Candy became an emotional magician, guiding the children to unlock the layers of emotional codes. From external signs to internal reactions, they explored emotions comprehensively. The children imitated facial expressions, acted out body language for different moods and practised matching tones to feelings.

Through fun psychological experiments, they also directly experienced that emotions are not just feelings of the heart – they also send physical signals. A faster heartbeat, stomach discomfort and other small physical reactions may be emotions quietly “speaking”!

马欣桐

“I still remember the small experiment in the lecture. I learned that when we feel bad, we shouldn’t keep it inside; we need to find proper ways to let it out.”

沈天睿

“When I heard how excessive negative emotions affect us in the experiment, I quickly touched my chest. It turns out that when we lose our temper, our bodies produce ‘harmful gas’! Before, when I argued with classmates, I would turn red with anger. Now I wonder if my body was being hurt by that terrible ‘gas’ too. Next time I have a conflict, I’ll close my eyes and count to ten, letting my anger out slowly like deflating a balloon. I also remember that bad temper upsets friends and secretly harms my body. Being a little superman who doesn’t get angry is the best!”

PART4

Magic Practice: Master Your Emotional Power

In the follow-up Emotional Magic Training Camp, younger students took part in the “My Emotional Weather Forecast” activity, using different weather conditions to express their moods, share why their feelings changed and predict future emotional states. They also learnt to notice others’ emotions using “Emotion Sensing Magic Cards”.

邱乙贞

Belle Qiu from Class 1D said, “I learned to report my mood with weather. When my mom took me to a restaurant that was closed, my mood had light rain. When she bought me snacks, my mood turned sunny. When I lost my toy at home, it rained again. I want to tell my friends: all our feelings are normal. It’s okay to be sad – just be the best you can be.”

曹惠甯

Belle Cao from Class 2C said, “Before, I would shake and my heart would race before speaking on stage. Then I remembered what Ms. Candy said: “Our bodies feel nervous first.” Now I know that’s what being nervous feels like.”

Older students used an “Emotion Thermometer” to track their moods, learn to judge emotions from physical signs and reflect on their emotional expression habits. They also activated the “Others’ Emotion Sensor” to practise reading others’ feelings from external clues and improve empathy.

刘思洁

Louis Liu from Class 5E said, “If the highest on the emotion thermometer is 50, mine today is about 30. My classmate is always offering me a double standard, so I feel angry and my heart beats fast. I draw and listen to music to calm down.”

余洋

Agnes Yu from Class 3C said, “I learned four magic tricks to tell others’ feelings: facial expressions, body language, tone and situation. Now I can guess how people feel using these!”

王荧嘉

Gaga Wang from Class 3A said, “Ms. Candy’s emotional lecture was fun and useful. Everyone has little emotions. We should view our mood changes correctly and learn to live peacefully with them. I no longer lose my temper or cry over small things easily.”

May everyone carry this emotional magic, listen to the voice of their heart on the journey of growth, live gently with their emotions and keep sunny moods always by their side! See you at the next Emotional Magic Class!