"Express Yourself With Rintoo" Face Pillow

Like any preschooler, Rintoo experiences different feelings all the time--happy, sad, angry, scared, or just relaxed. How does your child feel today? Help her express her own emotions through a Rintoo face pillow (featuring swappable facial expressions) and our companion feelings flash cards. Use your words--and make a face--together!

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Materials

• Rintoo's Face Template
• Scissors
• 9- by 12- in. felt sheets in yellow, brown, white, black, and pink
• Clear fabric glue (such as Fabri-Tac)
• Pillow stuffing (cotton or polyester batting)
• Fabric paints or puffy paints
• Hook-and-loop fasteners with sticky back (such as Velcro)
• "How Does Rintoo Feel?" Flash Cards
• Rintoo's Emotions Poster

Directions

1. Step 1

   Print & cut out Rintoo's Face Template.

2. Step 2

   Trace Rintoo's head shape twice onto yellow felt and cut out both pieces. Trace and cut out Rintoo's eyes, nose, inner ears, and hair pieces from felt of designated colors. Glue Rintoo's facial features to the front head panel. Then use puffy/fabric paint to draw Rintoo's eye reflections, nose reflection, and black triangles at the edge of his face and ears. Refer to the images provided on the template.

3. Step 3

   Once the facial features have been glued down and dried, glue the front and back panels of Rintoo's head together by applying glue along the edge of the bottom and sides. Wait about a minute for the glue to take, then stuff with batting and glue the top together. Try not to over-stuff the pillow, as this will distort Rintoo's face and make it difficult to glue the top together.

4. Step 4

   Make four different mouths of Rintoo by cutting out the pieces and glue them together as the template instructs. To make Rintoo's "relaxed mouth" and "sad/angry mouth," trace the shapes to white felt and then draw the mouthline with black puffy paint.

5. Step 5

   Peel tape from backing of a piece of "hook" and press it firmly to the back of Rintoo's "happy mouth," "scared mouth," "relaxed mouth," and "sad/angry mouth." For the "relaxed mouth" and "sad/angry mouth," glue the hook to the back of the tooth. You may need to trim it down along the tooth shape. For the "happy mouth" and "scared mouth," you probably need two hooks at the back to hold them up.

6. Step 6

   Trace and cut out Rintoo's eyebrows from black felt. Set aside. Trace the eyebrows again onto a piece of "hook" and cut out the shapes from the hook. Peel tape from the backing and press them to the back of the two felt eyebrows.

7. Step 7

   Once the eyebrows and four mouths have been made and hooks attached to their back, they are ready to stick to the Rintoo face pillow. Try all possible expressions by moving Rintoo's eyebrows around and switching between different mouth shapes.

8. Step 8

   Print the "How Does Rintoo Feel?" flash cards and follow the guides to cut and fold them. For added durability, you can use a glue stick to adhere them, and then laminate.

9. Game Play: Talk About Feelings & Make Rintoo's Face

   Follow the instructions on the flash cards to play! As you're talking about feelings together (Rintoo's and your child's), you can use each flash card as a guide to help you create the appropriate facial expression on Rintoo! For more social-emotional tips, check out <u><a href="/ni-hao-kai-lan/social-emotional-learning_ap.html">Social-Emotional Learning with Rintoo</a></u>.