Explore the Transience of Emotions with This Feelings Poem for Kids  

Well-renowned Jamaican spiritual teacher Mooji once said: “Feelings are just visitors. Let them come and go.” This can be a difficult concept for adults, let alone children!

We sometimes get caught in the trap of letting our emotions define us. For example, we might align sadness to our personality when in actual fact, we are just feeling sad in the present moment. Understanding that emotions come and go and do not define us as people is a valuable concept that children will take with them into adulthood. As stated in the poem on the poster, written by Stephanie Mulrooney:

Like a river’s gentle flow,
All emotions come and go.
Like the clouds up in the sky,
Feelings, too, will roll on by. 

Use this feelings poem when exploring emotions and emotional transcience with your students. Emotional understanding helps us become more self-aware and enables us to build strong and lasting relationships with others. The understanding that feelings (yes, even those BIG feelings!) will eventually pass us by can help us to recognize and accept those feelings when they come for a “visit.”

How to Make the Most of This Feelings and Emotions Poem

1. Print the color version of the poster on tabloid paper and display it in your classroom as a reminder to your students that feelings come and go.
2. Print the black and white version of the poster on letter paper and provide it to students as a coloring activity.

Before You Download

This resource prints as a PDF. Please use the dropdown menu to choose between the full-color or black-and-white version.

Take a look at some of our other fabulous resources to address social-emotional concepts with your students:

teaching resource

Calming Strategies A-Z Poster

Help students find coping methods with our classroom display poster highlighting 26 effective strategies for handling intense emotions.

teaching resource

Well-Being Self-Reflection Prompts PowerPoint

Make mental wellness check-ins a regular part of your day with our collection of 50 student self-reflection prompts.