Emotion Potion

Mix and match basic emotions to craft complex feelings in Emotion Potion!

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Everything you need to play this game

  • Small pieces of paper with recipes
  • Paper
  • Pens
  • Small pieces of paper with basic emotions (optional)
  • Small pieces of paper with complex feelings (optional)
  • Coloured pencils
  • Paint (optional)
  • Brushes
  • Water cups
  • Paper-towels

Make it yourself

1

Step 1

Prepare the recipes:
  • Put in a little sadness, add a teaspoon of anger and a dash of disgust - that's how you get a bottle of disappointment.
  • Start with two spoonful of sadness, mix in a pinch of surprise, and sprinkle some fear on top for that sharp aftertaste of regret.
  • Mix three drops of anger with a scoop of disappointment. Shake vigorously to get frustration.
  • Blend together a large portion of sadness with a few sprinkles of disgust. Add regret to taste and you get a bottle of guilt.
  • Combine equal parts of anger and fear, then stir in a generous amount of envy until well mixed. That's how you get jealousy.
  • Take a cup of sadness, add a dollop of fear, and mix slowly until you get loneliness.
  • Whip together a large dose of fear with a teaspoon of surprise. Keep stirring until the mixture feels anxious.
  • Mix a bright blush of surprise with a scoop of shame and a hint of fear until you get embarrassment.
2

Step 2

Prepare a list of basic emotions:

Make small papers listing the following basic emotions: Fear, Sadness, Anger, Joy, Disgust, Surprise, Contempt.

3

Step 3

Prepare a list of complex feelings:

Make small papers listing the following complex feelings: Admiration, Affectionate, Agitated, Amazement, Amusement, Annoyance, Anxiety, Apathy, Awkwardness, Betrayal, Bitterness, Bored, Calm, Challenged, Cheerfulness, Confusion, Courage, Deceived, Delight, Desire, Despair, Determination, Disturbed, Dissatisfaction, Distracted, Ecstasy, Eager, Embarrassment, Empathy, Envy, Exasperation, Excitement, Exhaustion, Fascinated, Grief, Grateful, Guilt, Helplessness, Hateful, Horror, Honoured, Homesick, Ignored, Impatience, Impressed, Inadequacy, Insecurity, Intimidation, Isolation, Jealous, Joy, Loneliness, Longing, Love, Melancholy, Mischievous, Nervousness, Outrage, Overwhelmed, Panic, Passionate, Persecuted, Pity, Pride, Regret, Relief, Rejection, Remorse, Safety, Shame, Shyness, Shock, Scepticism, Strangeness, Suffering, Tension, Tenacity, Terror/ Terrified, Trust, Trapped, Unhappiness, Vulnerability, Worry.

4
Good job!

A step-by-step guide to play the game

1

Start by discussing complex emotions, such as disappointment, frustration, regret or dissatisfaction. Explain that these feelings are made up of basic emotions such as anger, disgust, joy, sadness, surprise, and fear.

2

Hand out small cards that list 'recipes' for creating complex emotions. Each recipe shows a mix of basic emotions needed to create a specific complex emotion (see additional game information for some 'recipes').

3

Have the players use the recipes to combine the emotions. They can express these mixes verbally, or through drawing or crafting. Encourage them to discuss about how blending different emotions result in new emotional experiences.

4

Next, let the players come up with their own emotion recipes.

5

Conclude the activity with a group discussion. Ask questions like:

  • How did you feel while creating complex emotions?
  • What did you learn from this activity?
  • How can you use what you learned in your everyday life or in interactions with others?

Extra game information

See the materials section for a list of basic and complex emotions and a list of recipes.


To further explore the topic of complex emotions, you can discuss that we often experience multiple emotions at once. For instance, explain how hearing about a friend’s vacation might make them feel happy because they're glad for their friend, but also jealous because they wish they were on vacation too.

Variations

  • For younger players, you can use colours to explain complex emotions. Assign a colour to each basic emotion - like blue for sadness, yellow for joy, green for disgust, white for surprise, red for anger, purple for fear. Explain that complex feelings are made up of a combination of these basic emotions. Use palm painting or finger painting to mix up these colours and show visually how emotions blend to create different feelings.
  • Encourage the players to express emotions in various sensory forms, using materials like fabric, sandpaper, or scented markers. Some emotions might be represented best with colours, while others could be understood through textures or images.

Specific learning objectives

Learn about complex emotions.

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