When our little ones are upset, crying desperately and expressing unintelligible gulps, our first question is - What’s wrong?!

When we’re upset, we can express how we’re feeling to a partner or friend, but young children don’t always possess the necessary words to describe just how they’re feeling. Try putting yourself in your little one’s shoes, trying to explain difficult feelings but not knowing how; it’s really no wonder that tears are so frequent.

However, if we provide our children with as many ‘feeling words’ as possible, building up their emotional vocabulary, and expressing their emotions will prove much easier and ultimately lead to fewer tears and outbursts.

So, let’s get right into it and explore the different words to describe a variety of emotions.

Which feeling words should I teach my child?

Use our ‘emotions alphabet’ to help guide your kids on how it is they’re feeling! While we’ve listed some, feel free to add some of your own.

A words:

Angry, annoyed, anxious, afraid, awkward, abandoned, apprehensive, amused, aggressive.

B words:

Bewildered, brave, bitter, bashful.

C words:

Confident, cheerful, cross, concerned, curious, content, calm, cranky, cautious, crushed.

D words:

Distant, depressed, disgusted, disappointed, dejected, delighted, determined, doleful.

E words:

Embarrassed, excited, eager, enthusiastic, exhausted, envious, elated.

F words:

Funny, furious, flustered, fatigued, frightened, frustrated, forgiving.

G words:

Guilty, grateful, grumpy, gloomy, grouchy, gleeful, grief-stricken.

H words:

Happy, hurt, hyper, hesitant, heartbroken, humiliated, helpless.

I words:

Impatient, isolated, ignorant, interested, insecure, irritated, indifferent.

J words:

Jealous, joyous, joyful, judged, jittery.

K words:

Kind, keen, knowing.

L words:

Loving, lazy, lonely.

M words:

Moody, melancholic, mean, mad, meek, mischievous, misunderstood, moved.

N words:

Nasty, nice, nervous, needy, neglected, naughty, nonchalant.

O words:

Obsessed, offended, open-minded, overjoyed, optimistic, overloaded, outraged.

P words:

Preoccupied, pensive, panicked, peaceful, peeved, pressured, pleased, puzzled, proud.

Q words:

Quiet, quirky.

R words:

Relaxed, rattled, repulsed, reluctant, rebellious, reserved, restless, relieved, resentful.

S words:

Sad, silly, sympathetic, shy, serious, sensitive, safe, stressed, stubborn, sarcastic, sociable.

T words:

Tired, troubled, threatened, tender, thoughtful, thankful, trusting, torn, troubled, terrified.

U words:

Unsure, unhappy, unappreciated, useless, useful, uncertain, uncomfortable, undecided.

V words:

Violent, vain, victimised, vulnerable, vibrant, valuable, vexed.

W words:

Wronged, weak, worried, weary, warm, witty, woeful, withdrawn, worthless.

Y words:

Yearning, yielding.

Z words:

Zealous, zany.

Final Note: Remember not to overwhelm your child with lots of new words! Your child will learn best if you pick 2 or 3 new ‘feeling words’ to gradually teach them, and then wait until they’re comfortable with them before you move on.

How can I help my child build an emotional vocabulary?