Henry’s Pebble Sort – SEL Emotional Awareness Activity

Henry’s Pebble Sort – SEL Emotional Awareness Activity

A symbolic, hands-on activity to support self-awareness, emotional labeling, and regulation.

Rooted in the story Anger Is a Hedgehog, Henry’s Pebble Sort invites students to reflect on emotions through a concrete, visual metaphor. Using printable “pebbles” labeled with feeling words, students sort emotions into categories that reflect their weight and impact—such as light to carry, heavy to hold, or hard to let go of.

This activity fosters emotional literacy, body-awareness, and the beginning stages of emotional regulation by helping children externalize and evaluate their internal experiences.

✅ SEL Learning Objectives

• Self-Awareness: Recognize and label a variety of emotions
• Self-Management: Reflect on how emotions feel in the body and what to do with them
• Responsible Decision-Making: Identify when a feeling might need support, release, or acknowledgment
• Social Awareness & Empathy: Understand that others carry different emotional loads

🧰 What’s Included

• Printable Pebble Feeling Cards with diverse emotion words
• Sorting Mats labeled with prompts: Red, Yellow and Green
• Optional Reflection Page to deepen SEL skill-building after the activity

📎 Perfect for:

• SEL classrooms & morning meetings
• Counseling sessions & emotional check-ins
• Calm-down corners or processing time
• Ages 5–10

“Some feelings are okay to carry. Some are too heavy to hold alone.”

Help students build the skill of noticing—without judgment—and learning to let go.