The Feelings Train

In small trains, the engine decides how the train feels and all the cars move the same way; each station brings a new feeling. It builds following a classmate, spatial awareness and expressing feelings.

How to play

1. Make trains of four children holding shoulders. The teacher sets out cones with a feeling card: these are the stations (2 min).
2. The train travels around the yard and, at each station, checks the card and keeps going with that feeling: a happy train hops, a sad train drags, an angry train stomps (3 min).
3. At every station the engine changes: the first child moves to the back and the next one leads (3 min).
4. Scared train: very slow and silent; calm train: long steps and steam breaths, “ffffff” (2 min).
5. All the trains meet at the central station and make one giant train that rolls calmly into the train yard (2 min).

Rules

• I hold the shoulders in front of me gently.
• The engine goes slowly so the train doesn't break.
• Every car gets a turn as the engine.

Variations

Adaptations

• Visual impairment: ride as a car behind a buddy, with the engine calling out the feeling.
• Limited mobility: a child in a wheelchair can be the engine, with the rest holding the chair by a scarf.
• Autism: let them choose their place in the train and preview the engine changes.

Learning goals

• Move as a group while adjusting speed.
• Express feelings while following a classmate.
• Take turns as the engine.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Feeling face cards: 5
• Cones: 5

Teacher tip

Use just a few stations spread well apart so there's time to move with each feeling. The usual mistake is a racing engine: remind them that if the train breaks, it stops and waits.

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