Climate Feelings Frame

At this station, you’ll explore your feelings around climate change by creating a picture frame that represents your emotions about climate change.

Goal

Learn about the complexity of your emotions & how you can honor them all.

Resources

Blank paper
Markers or colored pencils
Climate Feeling Frame sheet – click to download
Activity Instruction Sheet (optional) click to download

Instructions

Give yourself a minute to think about climate change. Take a few deep breaths & think about what it means to you.
Pick up a blank piece of paper and draw a line around the edges, leaving an inch or so from the edge, to make a “frame”. Inside this frame, creatively express your image of climate change. The purpose of this activity is to express what climate change means to YOU, so there is no right or wrong way to do this. It’s up to you to draw or write or doodle how climate change shows up for you.
Once you are done with your creative expression inside the frame, you will color the frame to express how you are feeling. First, ask yourself: “What is one emotion I am feeling about climate change?” Choose a color that expresses this emotion & add it however you’d like to the frame.
Next, ask yourself: “What else am I feeling?” Choose a color for this next emotion, and add that color to the frame. Keep asking yourself “What else am I feeling?” until all your feelings about climate change have been expressed through the colors on the frame.
***Some share prompt***

Discussion

How did it feel to express your emotions through art?

Notice that no one needs to know what the colors mean to you… you get to choose whether you share your feelings with others or not. If you did want to share your feelings about climate change with someone, who could you go to who would support your feelings?

Most of the time, many of us feel many different emotions at the same time! Have you ever felt emotions that seemed opposite (ie, happy and sad) at the same time? How did that feel?

Extensions

Asking yourself, “What am I feeling?” is a great way to increase emotional literacy & vocabulary. “What else am I feeling?” is a level two question that helps us and the ones around us realize we often feel many different emotions at the same time. At least once a day for the next week, ask yourself and someone near you “How are you feeling?”, then follow up with “What else are you feeling?” I think you’ll feel amazed and intrigued by all the answers you find!

Activity Source

Patty Freedman & Maria Jackson