Feelings Unit (Littles)
Lesson 5: Big Feelings — Sadness

Lesson Goals

  1. Introducing strategies to deal with sadness
  2. Practicing dealing with sadness

Lesson Description

Students will talk about a basic human emotion — sadness — and learn some useful strategies to cope with this big feeling. 

Lesson Plan: Big Feelings — Sadness

Play "Us Time" Song

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Open Us Time with the “Us Time” song. Sing it together or play the video. 

Review Agreements

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Agreements are rules that people decide, together, to follow such as:

  • Paying attention to each other;
  • Keeping our hands to ourselves; and
  • Giving everyone a turn to speak.

In each session, discuss agreements, add to them, modify them, and recommit. Students can raise their hands or say “I agree” to show that they agree.

Listen to "The Sad Song"

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Listen to “The Sad Song,” a song by Ryan and Courtney Lofty from Noggin’s Big Heart Beats Album. Listen to the music and the lyrics in the song.

Discuss: Let's Talk About Sadness

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Discuss sadness with the class. Use these questions to get started:

  • What does it feel like to be sad?
  • How does sadness make your body feel?
  • What can help you calm down when you feel very sad? (Brainstorm ideas and share! Some prompts: Deep breaths, cuddling a pillow, listening to a calming song, looking at a book…)

Activity: Drawing my Sadness

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Crayons respond to the strength of children’s pressure and movements across the paper, making them a great art supply to use when discussing feelings like anger and sadness. Practice this activity to give children a way to practice managing sad feelings:

  • Let’s get out our crayons and make feelings art.
  • Let’s imagine the last time each of us felt really sad.
  • Let’s pick a color (or colors) that represent that feeling.
  • Let’s close our eyes, take a deep breath, and think about how anger feels. When we’re ready, let’s open our eyes and start to draw with our crayons.
  • As we draw, think about sadness: how does it make us feel? Where in our bodies do we feel it? What color does it remind us of?
  • Let’s talk about how our fingers, hands, wrists, and arms move while we’re drawing. How do our hands feel when you’re finished?
  • Let’s look at all of our finished sadness art.

Closing Discussion

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Conclude with a review of the sadness lesson:
  • Let’s listen to The Sad Song again.
  • What did we learn about sadness? (Allow the class to share.)
  • It’s OK to be sad. When we’re sad, we can use our breathing, art, and words to come down, so we can keep our day going.

Thank You: Share the Us Time Closing Song

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Conclude with “Thank You,” the Us Time “goodbye” song. This song marks the end of Us Time. Invite children to share what they want to say “thank you” for! Find the song online at playsparkler.org/UsTimeSongs.

What You'll Need
  • Your “Us Time” classroom space, where the class will gather
  • Crayons
  • Paper
Lesson Quick Links

Family Engagement Materials

From this lesson, you can share:
Feelings Reading List
Activities to Play At Home
Suggested Letter to Send Home
Research/Sources

Explore Other Us Time Resources

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For Littles 4-6 Years Old