Make Your Own Feeling Cards
Drop in a photo for each card, drag it to line up the face, and print. No trimming, no glue.
On a phone: tap a frame, then pick a photo or take a new one.
On a computer: drag a photo straight onto a frame.
Real, familiar faces
Make Your Own Feeling Cards
These cards hold photos of the children you're with every day.
12 cards, 4 to a page, on the 3 pages behind this one. Page one: happy, sad, mad, scared. Page two: frustrated, excited, tired, calm. Page three: proud, silly, worried, and one blank card to fill in.
Every card has a second line for the feeling word in a child's home language.
Add the photos on your screen
The faces come out already in place. Go to getplanella.com/feeling-cards, tap a frame or drag a photo in, and it crops itself to fit. Then print. No trimming, no glue.
Glue the photos in by hand
Print the card pages blank, trim a photo to fit, glue or tape it down, then laminate. Good if you already have prints.
Making a set
- One person makes all 12 faces: a child, you, or a co-teacher.
- Candid beats posed, when you can catch it.
- Leave one page uncut. Laminated whole, it's a wall chart.
- A wall set: Velcro dots at children's eye level.
- Cut, laminate, and round the corners. No laminator? Clear packing tape or a page protector lasts longer than you'd think.
- Punch the same corner on every card so a ring set sits flat. A ring set fits in a pocket and comes outside with you.
Using them
- Next to a mirror. A child looks at the card, then at herself.
- Make the face and guess. One child draws a card and shows the feeling with her whole body, the others guess.
- A set of their own. 12 cards in a cubby, a basket, or a drawer at home, so a child can go and get theirs.
- Make up your own. The blank card is yours to fill in.
- On either side of a big feeling: not in the middle of one.
- The child picks the card, even when it surprises you.
getplanella.com/feeling-cardsFeeling cards · how togetplanella.com/feeling-cardsFeeling cards · 01getplanella.com/feeling-cardsFeeling cards · 02getplanella.com/feeling-cardsFeeling cards · 03Your print dialog opens next. On a phone, you can print from there, or save the pages as a PDF to keep.
Free printable feeling cards for preschool
Feeling cards are photo cards that each name one emotion. Children use them to point to how they feel, or to find a word for it, which is often the harder part. This set holds photos of the children you are with every day rather than drawings or stock faces.
There are 12 cards: happy, sad, mad, scared, frustrated, excited, tired, calm, proud, silly, worried, and one blank card you fill in yourself. They print 4 to a page, on 3 pages. Each card also has a second ruled line under the feeling word, so you can write it in a child's home language.
They are made for toddler, preschool, pre-K, and transitional kindergarten rooms, for family child care, and for home. Teachers most often keep a set in a calm corner next to a mirror, or give each child a set of their own. The cards support social and emotional learning, and they work alongside any curriculum.
Two ways to make them
Add your photos in your browser. Tap a frame to pick a photo from your phone, or drag one in from your computer. It drops into the frame already cropped, and you can drag it to line up the face. Then print, and the cards come out with the faces already in place. No trimming and no glue.
Or print them blank. Print the card pages with the frames empty, trim a photo to fit, glue or tape it down, and laminate.
Questions teachers ask
Are these free?
Yes. All 12 cards are free to print. There is no account to make, no email address to hand over, and nothing to pay for.
Can I use photos of my own class?
Yes, and that is the whole idea. You add them yourself, right in the browser, from your camera roll or your computer.
Where do my photos go?
Nowhere. They stay on your device. Nothing is uploaded, Planella never receives or stores them, and the cards are assembled in your own browser.
Do I need any special software?
No. It works in the browser you already have, on a phone, a tablet, or a computer, and it prints on a regular printer on letter paper.
Can I use these at home or for homeschool?
Yes. Make a set for each child, and one with your own face in it too. The cards work the same at a kitchen table as they do in a classroom.
What ages are these for?
They are written for two to five year olds, and they carry over to kindergarten. The cards often do their biggest work in a toddler room, where pointing at a picture is a way to say something big before the words are there. Older preschoolers use them for the finer ones, frustrated, proud, and worried, and for the discovery that two people can feel differently about the same moment.
Can I change the feeling words?
Yes. Every word on every card can be retyped before you print. Use the words your room uses, run a shorter set for younger children, or write them in another language.
Can I get them in Spanish?
Every card has a blank line under the feeling word for a second language, so you can write in whichever one your room needs. A Spanish edition is coming.