TMCnet News
New Card Game to Help Children Understand and Talk about Emotions Launches on KickstarterIn a world increasingly focused on teaching kids how to program, operate, and interact with machines, The Game of Mixed Emotions™ is a new card game now crowdfunding on Kickstarter that promises to help kids interact with one another and talk about their feelings. The game, developed by entrepreneur and mother-of-three Theresa Claire, along with her advisor, child psychologist Dr. Melanie Pearl, is designed to teach children emotional vocabulary in a fun, simple way, which makes kids happier, healthier, and more successful. The game is great for kids of all ages, and especially perfect for any children going through tough times at home, or who need help identifying and labeling emotions in themselves or others. It's inspired by curriculum developed by the Yale Center of Emotional Education as well as the Zones of Regulation, and uses colors and symbols to break down complex emotions into easy-to-understand categories. Mixed Emotions has already seen tremendous success. Claire quickly sold the first 100 games in her home state of Connecticut. But after meeting with multiple store owners, Claire knew that to take the game to the next level, she would have to reduce the price and place a larger order to do so. That's why sheturned to Kickstarter, a perfect way to fund the first large-scale run of cards, which will ship and deliver before the holidays. "I originally developed the game because I wanted to have better communication with my sons," said Claire. "When I tried to talk to them about how they were feeling they would tell me, as most boys do, that they were doing 'fine.' I wondered if it was something more than just not wanting to talk to their mother. I realized that they simply didn't have the emotional vocabulary to express their feelings." Claire began working with Dr. Pearl and quickly realized the problem wasn't limited to her children. Extensive clinical research shows the emotional education that is part of Mixed Emotions helps reduce anxiety and depression and increase test scores. With rising rates of anxiety, depression, and autism among kids, and an increasing desire for new ways to start a dialog with our children, Claire and Pearl created the game as a stepping stone to a longer conversation between parents and kids about emotions and mental health. "When parents see their children experiencing uncomfortable emotions, their first instinct is to protect them and tell them something like 'it's OK,' 'don't be sad,' or 'don't be angry.' But the Mixed Emotions cards show children it's acceptable to feel these emotions," said Dr. Pearl. "It helps kids talk about what these emotions feel like for them, shows what they look like, and indicates how to identify them in themselves and others." The Kickstarter campaign runs through December 12, and the game will be delivered before the holidays. About The Game of Mixed Emotions The Game of Mixed Emotions, created by Mirror Books, LLC, is a fun, simple card game designed to teach kids how to talk about their feelings. Research shows that teaching children early how to talk about how they feel makes them happier, healthier, and more successful, now and for the rest of their lives. Mixed Emotions exposes kids to the full spectrum of emotions in a fun, unobtrusive way. It gives them exposure to a wide range of emotions, showing them that people can feel all kinds of emotions and that emotions are only temporary. It not only teaches children how to recognize and understand their own feelings, but the feelings of others as well.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171121005975/en/ |
