Feelings Sort | Social Emotional Learning

Build empathy, emotional intelligence, and social awareness with this Montessori-aligned feelings sorting activity. You use real-life photos to help young learners recognize and name emotions like happy, sad, and angry.

This feelings sorting resource works well in classrooms or at home. It keeps things simple so children can understand big emotions through everyday faces and situations.

What’s included:

• Real-photo sorting cards showing diverse children and adults expressing emotions
• Sorting headers with words and pictures (works for readers and non-readers)
• Ready-to-use lesson plans for easy setup and guidance
• Designed for toddlers, preschool, Pre-K, and early elementary
• Fits SEL lessons, calm-down corners, morning meetings, and small groups

How you use it:

• Let children sort photos into emotion categories
• Ask simple questions: “What do you see?” “How do they feel?”
• Encourage them to share similar experiences

What children develop:

• Emotion vocabulary
• Empathy and awareness of others
• Observation and communication skills

As children sort and talk through each image, they connect feelings to real-life expressions. You get natural conversations that help them understand emotions in a clear, practical way.

If you would like to see this and other resources in action, please check us out on Instagram at @projectbasedprimary