Emotion Story Sacks

Michael Wood
May 22
3 min read

Updated: Jun 4

Supporting Emotional Literacy Through Story Sack Interventions

By Cari Hancox

At Aspire, we’re always looking for creative, practical ways to help children recognise, understand and manage their emotions. So I have developed three engaging Emotion Story Sacks designed specifically to support emotional development through sensory resources, discussion tools, and books.

Each colour-coded sack focuses on a core emotion—Anger, Happiness, and Worry—and is packed with resources perfect for 1:1, small group or class-wide emotional literacy sessions.

📸 Here’s what’s inside each sack:

🔴 Anger Story Sack

This sack supports children to safely explore feelings of frustration or rage and introduces them to helpful calming strategies.

What’s inside:

📚 Anger story books
https://amzn.to/4jdVOrS
https://amzn.to/43IOShW
🗣️ Voice recorder with mirror – Encourages children to express their feelings and hear them played back
https://amzn.to/4dtOmaR
🔴 Red sensory scarf – Represents intensity of emotions
https://amzn.to/4kz5z5i
🔦 Red light torch – Visual representation of overwhelming feelings
https://amzn.to/4mjeCJ8
🧶 Hard spikey ball – A safe tactile way to release energy and a visual aid for showing anger can hurt others too
https://amzn.to/4dtcNW1
📃 Crinkly paper – Great for sensory feedback and calming
- You will probably have something lying around

🟢 Happy Story Sack

The Happy sack celebrates joy, safety, and belonging. This sack encourages children to reflect on positive experiences and express gratitude.

What’s inside:

📚 Dealing with Feeling: Happy storybook
https://amzn.to/43IOShW
🗒️ Happy Talk Board – With prompts like “What makes you feel happy?”
- Created with Widgit
✍️ Mirror with whiteboard marker – For children to write or draw their sources of joy
https://amzn.to/4kwjAkb
🔐 Lock and key – A metaphor for feeling safe and secure
https://amzn.to/3SNjfgZ
🧸 Heart plush cuddly toy – For feelings of love and comfort
https://amzn.to/4mjk5zE
🎶 Bells or joyful sound item – Represents happiness through sound
https://amzn.to/4jyqeFP
🌈 Green and yellow sensory fabrics – Bright, happy colours to stimulate positive moods
https://amzn.to/4kz5z5i
🌬️ Bubbles – Great for teaching mindful breathing
https://amzn.to/4ktSSbL
🌸 Optional sensory additions – e.g. calming scents, soft textures

🟡 Worry Story Sack

This thoughtful sack is filled with tools to help children identify signs of anxiety and learn effective calming techniques.

What’s inside:

📘 Dealing with Feeling: Worried
https://amzn.to/43IOShW
🎧 Ear defenders – Helpful if a child is sound sensitive when anxious
https://amzn.to/4kuDVGv
🌀 Spinning tops – Represent dizziness or overstimulation
https://amzn.to/44QCvS6
🐍 Water snake fidget toy – Mimics the ‘jelly belly’ or butterflies - https://amzn.to/3SNgwEh
🛑 STOP sign paddle – A visual cue for children to pause or signal overwhelm https://amzn.to/4dzO16S
🧱 Blocks for problem size – Supports understanding and scaling worries
- You will probable have lego or similar in your school
🌬️ Bubbles – Great for teaching mindful breathing
https://amzn.to/4ktSSbL
💬 Positive script cards – Promoting self-talk and encouragement
- You can create these yourself
📋 Grounding technique card – “5 things you can see, 4 you can touch…”
- We will add some options for these in our next blog.

🎨 Bright, Visual & Ready to Use

Each sack is colour-coded and comes with visual symbols and communication aids, making them inclusive and ready-to-use for any SEND-friendly classroom or intervention space.

💡 How to Use the Sacks

Story sacks can be used during:

PSHE lessons
Emotional regulation interventions
Lunchtime nurture groups
Parent support workshops
One-to-one or SENCO sessions

They're ideal for helping children develop emotional vocabulary, understand how feelings affect their bodies, and learn strategies to self-regulate.

🧠 Coming Soon…

We’re working on additional sacks for other emotions, including Sadness. Got ideas or want to contribute? We’d love to hear from you!

🛒 Want to Make Your Own?

We’ve made it easy for you! Use the links above, find the things yourself or better still recycle old items into new story sacks, families may have old things that can be re-used, mirrors, padlocks, plushies, coloured scarves are all likely to be hanging around in someones draw somewhere.

You can download a checklist of resources by clicking the link below.