Emotion Faces

Every key is a feeling the creature shows. Space is a big sigh back to calm.

What your kid practises: Recognising feelings — and having a say in them

Opens in a new tab. Nothing is sent anywhere while you play.

Why we made it

One creature fills the screen, and every key is a different feeling: right is warmer, left is droopier, high rows are bouncy, low rows are sleepy. The child watches the feeling move, not two pictures swap.

A sad face that arrives on its own is frightening. A sad face the child made — and can undo with one press — is the beginning of emotional literacy.

Space is a big sigh: the creature breathes and settles back to calm. Coming back to centre is always available, and the child is the one who causes it.

How to play together

1Let them press keys and watch the creature’s mood follow — brighter to the right, droopier to the left.
2Name what you see, out loud: happy, sad, cross, sleepy, excited, all better now.
3Don’t show them Space at first. Watch whether they find their own way back to the happy side — that is the whole game.

Good to know

The toy runs in a browser tab, so a curious kid can still find these:

Ctrl+Alt+Del — Windows always lets that through.
The browser’s tabs and address bar (unless you use the kiosk launcher from GitHub).
Swiping in from the screen edge on touchscreens.