Recognising Anger With “When Sophie Gets Angry”

The Book

When Sophie Gets Angry — Really, Really Angry

Written & illustrated by Molly Bang, published by Scholastic Press

The picture book explores the intense feelings that come with anger and how children can learn to manage them. When Sophie feels overwhelmed, her body reacts in strong and noticeable ways: her face gets hot, her fists clench, and she feels like exploding. This allows students to describe what anger looks and feels like physically (AC9HPFP03 – Foundation Year, Health and Physical Education), helping them recognise emotional cues in themselves and others.

As Sophie removes herself from the situation, takes time to cool down in nature, and eventually returns feeling calm, the story models simple and effective emotional regulation strategies (AC9HP2P03 – Years 1 and 2, Health and Physical Education). These moments provide powerful prompts for children to reflect on their own ways of calming down and regaining control during emotionally charged moments.

When Sophie Gets Angry — Really, Really Angry is a gentle yet impactful resource for developing emotional literacy, supporting children in identifying and managing their big emotions in healthy ways.

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Resource creator

Kristina Wood

Subject

Emotion recognition (Health and Physical Education),

Level

Foundation,

Description

This Health and Physical Education lesson focuses on recognising anger for Foundation children (aged 5) by exploring children’s feelings through body language, facial expressions, and colour. Students read the story, then draw their own angry and calm faces, supporting emotional literacy, wellbeing, and self-awareness. With an art-based integration, it’s ideal for teaching young children about emotions in a meaningful way.

Learning Intentions

• We are learning to recognise emotions by showing how different feelings can look and feel in our bodies and on our faces.

Successful Criteria

• I can describe feelings like angry and calm.
• I can show those feelings by drawing my face.
• I can talk about what helps me feel calm again.

Curriculum Alignment

AC9HPFP02 9.0 (Health and Physical Education Foundation): Practise personal and social skills to interact respectfully with others

• explaining their reasons and actions in response to challenging situations in shared play experiences
• identifying characters in texts who have been excluded from a group, exploring why they have been excluded and discussing how other characters could have been more inclusive
• cooperating, collaborating and negotiating with others when participating in physical activities to achieve agreed outcomes
• identifying behaviours that may be disrespectful and cause hurt or harm to others during play

Materials

The Book: When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang
Drawing paper (2 circles/ovals per child) or our My Angry and Calm Faces worksheet
Red and green backing paper
Glue sticks, child-safe scissors
Black markers, crayons, pencils
Optional: small mirrors for face observation

Instructions

Recognising Anger from the Story

Read When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang
Discuss
- What happened to Sophie when she got angry?
- How did she look and act?
- What helped her feel calm again?
- What does it feel like in your body when you’re angry or calm?

Model Emotional Expressions

Show your own face in angry and calm expressions.
Describe facial and body changes: “When I’m angry, I clench my teeth. When I’m calm, I smile and my body relaxes.”
Demonstrate simple emotion drawings for younger students to copy or compare before doing the activity.

Drawing Their Faces

Students draw their own angry face on one piece of paper and their calm or happy face on another.
They glue the angry face on red paper and the calm face on green.
They can colour in their faces and decorate their hair.
Support students to label or describe their feelings using words or sentence starters like “I feel angry when…” or “I feel calm when…”

Group Sharing and Emotional Reflection

Have students share their drawings with a partner or during circle time.
Brainstorm calm-down strategies to support emotional regulation.

Extensions

Offer an opportunity to identify emotions and the colour zones of regulation with My Monster’s Colour Zone or Identifying Characters’ Emotions in The Shouting Girl.
Create a feelings flipbook showing a range of emotions for kids and what helps shift from angry to calm.