EYE EXPRESSIONS

SEL SKILL(S): RECOMMENDED GRADES:

Communication, Empathy Elementary, Middle School

MATERIALS NEEDED: LEARNING OBJECTIVE:

None After completing the lesson, your students will
have a better understanding of how they can
use eye expressions to tell other how they
feel.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Ask your students how they can communicate without speaking. They might say things like:
smiling, frowning, crying, using eye expressions, hand gestures, etc.

Explain that today, they will learn how to communicate with each other only using their eyes. To
help them think about how they might do this, ask them the following questions:
What does it mean when someone winks?
What if someone closes both eyes for a few seconds and slowly opens them?
What if someone raises one or both eyebrows?
What if someone doesn’t look you in the eye or stares at their feet?
What does it mean (and look like) when someone “rolls” their eyes?

With a partner or a group, have one person pick a feeling from the list below:
Bored
Excited
Focused
Frustrated
Happy
Mad
Scared
Sad
Surprised

Next, and wearing a mask to cover their mouth, have them use their eyes to express that feeling to
a partner or the group. They should keep guessing until they get the correct emotion and then
switch to another person and another feeling.