My Feeling Fish Tank

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This worksheet allows children to create their own emotional ecosystem by drawing fish and sea creatures that represent their current feelings into a fish tank. The underwater setting provides a calming, contained environment for exploring emotions, while the variety of sea creatures (fish, jellyfish, starfish) offers diverse ways to express different emotional states. The metaphor of multiple fish coexisting in one space normalizes experiencing multiple emotions simultaneously. This creative approach makes emotion identification feel playful and manageable.

Additional Guiding Questions

• "Which fish are swimming together? Do any feelings come as a pair for you?"

• "Which fish is the biggest/smallest in your tank right now? Why that size?"

• "Are any fish hiding behind the plants or rocks? Which feelings do you sometimes hide?"

• "Which fish would you like to feed and help grow? Which would you like to shrink?"

• "If your tank could talk, what would it say it needs—cleaner water, more space, different fish?"

• "Do any fish need to leave the tank? Are there any fish missing that should be there?"

• "What does your tank look like on a good day versus a hard day?"

Accompanying Activities

• Fish Tank Dialogue: Have different fish "talk" to each other—what would Worried say to Happy?

• Tank Maintenance: Discuss what helps "clean the tank" (coping skills, support, activities)

• Feed the Fish: Identify what each emotion needs (e.g., Sad needs comfort, Worried needs reassurance)

• Real Fish Tank Observation: If available, watch real fish and discuss how feelings move and change like fish swimming