Expressing Feelings Creatively

Curriculum Area: Drama (Theater) – Grade 1

Standard: National Core Arts Standards (NCAS) – Theater Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work
Focus: Awareness of facial expressions and hand gestures in communicating feelings

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Lesson Duration: 20 minutes

Class Size: 30 students

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Lesson Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will:

• Recognize and express different emotions using facial expressions and hand gestures.
• Demonstrate how body language helps convey feelings without words.
• Develop confidence in performing emotions through movement-based activities.

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Materials Needed

• Emotion Flashcards (showing happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, excited)
• Small handheld mirrors (or laminated reflective sheets)
• "Emotion Dice" (a large die with different emotions on each face)
• Soft instrumental music (for movement exercises)

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Lesson Structure

1. Hook (3 minutes) – "Mirror, Mirror!"

• Begin by holding up an Emotion Flashcard (e.g., "Surprised") and making the biggest, most exaggerated surprised face possible.
• Ask students, "Can you guess what I'm feeling?"
• Let them copy the expression using their own faces.
• Pass out mirrors so they can observe their own expressions.
• Challenge: "Make your 'surprised' face even more dramatic!"

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2. Activity 1: Emotion Charades (5 minutes)

Differentiation: Students who need extra support can copy the teacher’s facial expressions before performing.

• Divide students into groups of 3-4. One student picks an Emotion Flashcard and acts out the feeling using only facial expressions and hand gestures – no sounds!
• The group guesses the emotion.
• Rotate so each student has a turn.
• Encourage exaggerated expressions for clarity.

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3. Activity 2: Emotion Dice Walk (6 minutes)

Differentiation: Adjust difficulty by allowing students to choose an emotion if rolling the dice feels too uncertain.

• Students spread out in a safe space. Roll the Emotion Dice to decide what mood everyone should act out.
• Play soft instrumental music as they walk and move through the classroom using their whole body to express the emotion (i.e., stomping for anger, skipping for happiness, small slow steps for sadness).
• Introduce hand gestures: "How would your hands move if you were scared? Excited?"

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4. Activity 3: Emotional Freeze Frames (5 minutes)

Differentiation: Students needing additional support can work in pairs to create poses together.

• In pairs, students create a "freeze frame" (a still pose) that represents a selected emotion.
• The class tries to guess the feeling based on their gestures and expressions.
• Challenge: "Can you add only hand movements to make your emotion even clearer?"

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Wrap-Up & Reflection (1 minute)

• Gather students in a circle. Ask "Which emotion was the easiest to show? Which was the hardest?"
• Have them make their biggest, most exaggerated happy face before finishing the lesson.

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Assessment & Reflection

• Observation: Did students clearly express emotions through facial expressions and hand gestures?
• Self-Assessment: Students place a hand on their heart if they felt confident, on their head if they want more practice.

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Teacher Reflection

• Were students engaged and actively participating?
• Did differentiated strategies support all learners?
• What adjustments could be made for future sessions?

Using creative activities that focus on expressing emotions non-verbally, this lesson fosters social-emotional learning while developing drama skills. Teachers can build on this by incorporating storytelling or role-play in future lessons!