Matching Emojis with Emotions – SEL Activity

Students can identify and name the emotion represented by a given emoji from a bank of thirty options.

Students can distinguish between related but distinct emotion words (e.g., annoyed vs. angry vs. furious; worried vs. uncertain vs. scared).

Students can expand their emotional vocabulary beyond basic feeling words to more nuanced terms such as unamused, secretive, and nauseated.

Use the activity as a quick SEL check-in by having students first find the emoji closest to their own mood before completing the full matching list.

Break the thirty words into smaller sets (e.g., five at a time) for younger students rather than assigning the full list at once.

Let students self-check their work using the numbered answer key on page two after completing the worksheet.

Emotional vocabulary — students match thirty emotion words, from basic (happy, sad) to nuanced (unamused, secretive, nauseated), to their corresponding emoji.

Visual-to-word association — students interpret an emoji's facial expression and connect it to the correct written word.

Self-checking — students verify their own matches using the numbered answer key on page two.