Skip to content

Emotional Health Check-Ins

Why This is Important

Sometimes, asking your child, How are you?, does not give insight into his or her actual emotional wellbeing. Checking in using one of the activities below can give you a lot more information about how your child is truly doing.

Quick Activity

Mindful Check-In

Have your child take a deep breath, and then answer how they are feeling in the present moment (it could be an emotion, a physical feeling, or a mental experience). Taking a deep breath before answering encourages mindful reflection.

More Activities and Games

Deep Check-In

Have your child respond to one or more of the following sentence stems:

  • If you really knew me, you would know…
  • Something I have been holding in is…
  • One thing no one knows about me is…
Current Playlist

Have your child compare his or her well-being to specific songs or music genre. Guiding questions:

  • What instrument is currently playing inside right now?
  • What music or song best represents you right now?
  • If your current mood could be represented by music, what would it be?
Rose, Bud, and Thorn

Discuss with your child a rose (something good that has happened), a bud (something he or she is looking forward to), and a thorn (something that has been hard or difficult).