Mo the mood monster: the story of our feelings game

What your child learns with Mo

The game gives young children words for eight feelings: happy, sad, angry, scared, surprised, calm, proud and shy. A word is a handle for a feeling. The CDC notes that naming a feeling gives a child a word for it and shows that it is okay to talk about feelings.

Pediatricians describe naming feelings as a simple first step. When a feeling has a name, children feel understood, and big emotions get a little easier to handle.

The game also trains a quieter skill: looking closely at faces. To match a face to the right monster, your child has to check the eyes, the eyebrows and the mouth. If the match is wrong, the game gently says to look at the eyes and the mouth again.

In the short stories, children guess how Mo might feel when the ice cream falls or a best friend moves away. Some stories have more than one fitting answer, and the game says so out loud. That is a big idea for a four-year-old: two people can feel different things about the same moment.

Finally, your child collects ways to feel better. Many of them are calming steps the NHS suggests for children, like breathing slowly, counting and talking to someone you trust:

• Taking slow, deep breaths
• Asking for a hug or cuddling a teddy
• Talking to a grown-up
• Counting slowly to five
• Resting in a cozy, quiet corner
• Drawing a picture or listening to quiet music

Why we made a game about feelings

Young children have big questions about feelings. Why am I so cross? Why does my tummy feel funny? Will this sad feeling stay? Those questions can come up in the middle of tears.

We wanted a place to practice when everyone is calm. A monster helps here. Pediatricians suggest using play and story characters to talk about feelings, and Mo is such a character. Mo can turn red and fume, and nobody is in trouble.

One idea guided every screen: all feelings are okay, but not everything we do with them is. That is why the What helps? tray also holds hitting, kicking, throwing and yelling. When a child drags one of those to Mo, Mo shakes its head, and the game explains kindly why it might hurt someone. Then it invites your child to try another way.

We also wanted the game to work for children who cannot read yet. All instructions, facts and questions are read aloud, and the game uses your child's own name, so a three-year-old can play without help.

What children love about it

Mo is the star. Mo changes color and face with every feeling: sunny yellow when happy, blue with a tear when sad, red with fists and puffs of steam when angry. Your child can tap through all eight feelings and watch Mo change.

On the home screen, every tap on Mo brings a new trick. Mo jumps, spins, squishes, wiggles, or flashes through every feeling like a rainbow, and then says a short fact about feelings.

In What helps?, a little meter fills with each good idea. After three, Mo turns calm, then happy again, and hearts burst out. Then your child can help Mo with the next feeling straight away.

The breathing balloon is a quiet favorite. It grows while your child breathes in and shrinks while they breathe out, with a soft whoosh and a slow count to four. A gentle chime marks each breath, for 3 or 5 breaths in a row.

Memory pairs a monster with a child's face that feels the same, and the quiz fills Mo with happy hearts. Playing the quiz again gives a new chance at more hearts.

How to play it together

Start on Mo's feelings screen. The game asks your child how they feel today, so let them show Mo first. Then you show Mo how you feel, and say why in one short sentence.

In the stories, pause before your child taps an answer. Ask: how would you feel? If your answer is different, say so. The game accepts more than one feeling for many stories, and you can too.

After playing, Mo can become a shared language at home. Are you feeling a bit like red Mo right now? A light question like that is often easier to answer than a direct one.

The NHS also points out that how you respond to anger can shape how your child responds to it. So say your own feelings out loud now and then, and say what you do to calm down. I feel cross, so I am taking three slow breaths.