Building emotional learning with the Feel It All Mini Kit

The Feel It All Mini Kit from Lovevery brings together simple, thoughtfully designed tools – books, magnets, and games –  help your child make sense of their growing world of feelings. Young children learn about emotions the same way they learn everything else: through repeated exposure, warm guidance, and lots of everyday practice. This kit gives you a range of ways to support that learning at the pace that’s right for them.

Why These Tools Matter So Much Right Now 

During early childhood, the brain is developing at an astonishing rate – by age 3, it’s already about 80% of its adult size. The systems involved in emotion recognition, self-awareness, and early self-regulation are forming rapidly during this window. Research shows that even simple exposure to emotion vocabulary and caring co-regulation in these years predicts stronger social skills, better peer relationships, and a smoother transition into school later on.

That means the little moments you spend talking about feelings or practising calming strategies truly add up.

How to Use This Guide 

Children’s emotional understanding changes quickly from ages 2–5. What makes sense to your child at 2 might feel completely different at 3½ or 5 – and that’s exactly how development works.

Use the guidance below to match each plaything to what your child is ready for right now. Feel free to follow their lead, slow down when needed, and celebrate the small wins along the way.

Using Each Plaything by Stage

‘I Feel, I Can’ Book

Under 3 Toddlers feel emotions in a big way, but they’re still building the language and internal awareness to make sense of them. Short, flexible moments with the book are perfect at this age – even just looking at the pictures a couple pages at a time.

How to use the book:

• Start with the primary emotions: angry (referred to as “mad” in the book), sad, happy, and scared. Toddlers benefit from hearing these words often, even in tiny doses.
• Point out simple cues in the photos: “Her eyebrows are low – I wonder if she feels angry.” Most toddlers won’t connect these cues to their own experiences yet, and that’s completely expected.
• Model just one simple calming strategy at a time, like candle breaths. At this age, they’ll need you to guide their hands or body through it.

Children under 3 rely almost entirely on caregivers for regulation. They’re just starting to notice what their bodies feel like inside. Your gentle modelling helps build those early foundations.

Ages 3–4 Children this age are beginning to understand more emotion words and are just starting to realise that other people have feelings, too. Their guesses won’t always be accurate – and that’s part of the learning process.

How to use the book:

• Read a few pages at a time and connect them to recent moments: “You felt frustrated when we left the park. That’s like this page.”
• Explore facial expressions and body language together. Encourage curiosity over correctness.
• Choose one or two strategies from the “I Can” section and practise side-by-side. They may begin to try them with you, especially as their self-awareness grows.

This stage marks the beginning of early empathy and perspective-taking. With your support, children can make simple links between experiences and emotions, even if they still need a lot of help managing those feelings.

Ages 4–5+ Older pre-schoolers are ready for more reflection and nuance. They can think about what they felt earlier and begin to plan what might help the next time – not perfectly, but with increasing confidence.

How to use the book:

• Ask your child to choose a couple emotions they felt today and talk briefly about them. Short reflections work best.
• Explore more complex emotions like proud, excited, or nervous, and talk about how some feelings can overlap or look similar.
• Choose a calming strategy together and make a simple plan: “Next time I feel nervous, I want to try belly breaths.” They’ll still need reminders in the moment, but planning builds important executive function skills.

Around this age, children can think ahead and compare feelings. These early planning conversations help strengthen the brain networks involved in self-regulation.

“I Feel, I Can” Magnet Game & Path

Under 3 

For toddlers, exploration is the learning. Matching or finishing the puzzles isn’t required for emotional development.

How to use the magnets:

• Introduce the primary emotion magnets and label them as you play.
• Let your child stick them on the fridge, move them around, or simply hold them. This hands-on exploration builds early familiarity.
• In the Spinner Game, spin for your child and find the matching emotions magnet together.

Toddlers learn best through sensory play and repetition. Exposure matters more than accuracy.

Ages 3–4 

Kids this age are ready to categorise emotions, try simple games, and make connections to their own experiences.

How to use the magnets:

• Sort magnets into loose “emotion families,” like happy–excited or angry–frustrated.
• Play the Spinner Game and add gentle storytelling: “I felt disappointed when it rained today.”
• Try calming strategies together. When you introduce the guessing game, start with big, clear actions to help them succeed.

Children 3–4 rapidly expand their emotional vocabulary and start making sense of similarities between different feelings. Storytelling and categorising support that growth.

Ages 4–5+ 

At this stage, kids can reflect on past experiences, follow simple rules, and use tools more independently.

How to use the magnets:

• Explore all the magnet games, including “Additional Ways to Play.”
• Use the ‘I Feel, I Can’ Path as a planning or reflection activity and keep it somewhere visible.
• Encourage your child to choose strategies during calm moments, stepping in with gentle reminders when emotions run high.

Children can begin applying strategies on their own when they’re regulated. Visual reminders strengthen consistency and independence over time.

Calming Circle

Pairing breath with movement gives children a concrete, sensory anchor when emotions start rising. This is especially helpful because the brain regions involved in self-regulation are still developing well into adolescence.

Under 3 

Model the movement and pacing yourself. Keep it short, gentle, and playful.

Ages 3–4 

Trace the circle together, especially before transitions or when your child seems a little overwhelmed. You set the rhythm; they follow.

Ages 4–5+ 

Let your child practise on their own during calm moments. You might offer it proactively, like: “Want to try a circle breath before we clean up?”

Social–emotional learning isn’t a skill we “finish” – it’s something we keep practising throughout our lives. These tools simply make it easier for your child to build those skills early on, with your warmth and guidance leading the way.