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Moka Mera Emotions

Social and emotional learning application

Moka Mera Emotions is a fun and creative tool to explore and discuss emotions. Use the application together with your child, or in a small group of children, and let the children recognize the range of emotions in themselves with the emotional filters. Help the children to express their emotions verbally. Teach them how to deal with overwhelming emotions and how to treat others with kindness and empathy. This is a fun way to explore the range of emotions we have, and the app works as a basis for meaningful discussions.

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The app is free in Finland

Explore and learn how to identify emotions

Moka Mera Emotions is a playful, educational app for children where they can explore and learn how to identify their emotions using emotional filters and drawn emotion cards. This app can be used in early childhood education by children together with their teachers, or at home with their parents.

The emotional filters are a good tool for strengthening self-esteem and self-confidence. The filter “happy” transforms the child’s mouth into a smile. The filter “angry” generates smoke that comes out from the child’s nostrils, whereas the filter “sad” creates animated tears coming out from the child’s eyes. The purpose of the photographs is to teach the children how to identify, manage, express, and discuss emotions as well as understand and manage the emotions of others, which strengthens the children’s emotional skills.

By tapping the emoticons in the app, representing 19 different emotions, the image of the child’s face will change accordingly. The face becomes e.g. sad, surprised, angry, or happy.
There are 7 core emotions in the app; Happy, Surprised, Sad, Angry, Disgusted, Afraid, Love. There are 12 additional emotions; Proud, Curious, Lonely, Ashamed, Disappointed, Jealous, Bored, Sleepy, Shy, Worried, Nervous, Relieved, and Me (no specific emotion). Additionally, there are 19 drawn emotion cards with Moka Mera, the little monster, representing the same 19 emotions. For some children, it can be easier to start with the drawn emotions cards with pictures not representing themselves.

The languages available in the app are English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, Hindi, Swedish, and Finnish.

Do you want to use Moka Mera Emotions in your education?

There are 5 lesson plans about how to encourage and help children to identify and discuss emotions and wellbeing.

Why play Moka Mera Emotions?

Recognizing your emotions and learning to manage them is one of the most important skills you can acquire. Helping children find their voice and being able to have a conversation about how they’re feeling with a safe adult means that they will feel happier, safer, and more confident.

Children should be taught the language necessary to label and identify the different emotions they may experience. We need to let children know that feeling different emotions is normal and that emotions are individual to us, we all share the same emotions but we experience them differently.

Children who are able to identify, understand, express, and manage a wide range of emotions experience long term benefits to their mental health, wellbeing and it leads to positive attitudes and behaviours later in life. This will give them the strategies and life skills to navigate their way through tough situations, manage difficulties and setbacks, and handle them in a more calm, purposeful way.

By giving them the vocabulary needed to describe how they’re feeling, we are encouraging them to express themselves productively. They will then be better equipped to face challenges and will be better able to focus on tasks, learn, form friendships, and navigate social situations. Talking about challenges and how to tackle them helps children to think about different ways to meet challenges. As children are able to overcome their challenges on their own it helps build their confidence and sense of “Yes, I can do it!” attitude.

How to Use

The emotions

There are 7 core emotions, all with a different color around the emoticon. By tapping the quantity button in the left corner, you can choose to see only the 7 core emotions: Happy, Surprised, Sad, Angry, Disgusted, Afraid, and Love.

There are 12 additional emotions, with a color code connecting them to one of the core emotions to which they are related to. The additional emotions are Proud, Curious, Lonely, Ashamed, Disappointed, Jealous, Bored, Sleepy, Shy, Worried, Nervous, Relieved, and Me (no specific emotion). By tapping the same button you can see all 19 emotions.

Functions in the app

In the menu, under the exclamation mark, you can read the parental information, use 19 drawn emotion cards with Moka Mera, the little monster, and choose your language by tapping the right flag.

By tapping on the mirror you can see how you look naturally and compare it to the emotional filter picture of yourself.

You can turn off the sound by tapping the microphone. You can take pictures of yourself by holding the chosen emoticon.

In the gallery, up in the left corner, there is room for the 15 latest photos. All the photos will also be saved on your own device, from where you can either print or share them.

Filters and emotions cards

The filters used are elementary, where the child still can recognize her or himself and has nothing in common with beauty filters used on social media apps.

There is also the possibility to use the drawn emotion cards with the little Monster Moka Mera, representing the same 19 emotions. For some children, the experience of seeing themselves can be too strong. In those cases, the child can begin exploring the drawn emotion cards in the app, found under the menu.

Start with the 7 core emotions

You can explore the emotions together with the child or in a group of children.

We recommend that you start by exploring the 7 core emotions, one by one, all categorized with different colors around the emoticon.

Let the child, or group of children, play with the app first, take pictures of themselves, and look at them. Then put the device away and start the discussion based on the example questions.

You can show the pictures the children took of themselves as a reminder of the emotion if needed. When the children know the core emotions, you can continue with the remaining 12 emotions.

Relevant questions to discuss with the child

It’s up to you how educational you want Moka Mera Emotions to be, by regulating the level with your questions and discussions with the children.

Relevant questions can address the emotion, or the child’s response to it, or focus on the emotions of others: Name the emotion together with the child.

How does the emotion feel inside you?
Where in your body do you feel the emotion?
How do you look in the picture?
Where did the emotion come from?
In what situation do you feel this way? Why?
How can you respond to the emotion or what can you say to it?
How can you calm down or overcome the emotion (if negative)?
What can you do to make your friend feel happy/surprised/relieved?
How did your friend feel? Why?
What can you do to support your friend?

Sometimes it can be easier to approach the emotion in a more abstract way:

What color does the emotion have?
What does it taste like?
How does it sound?
What does the emotion look like?

Support the child

Examples from the child’s day-to-day experiences, especially with other children, make the best case studies. Start with an emotion the child can relate to, try to identify the emotion, then go on to describe it and reflect on it. Talk with the child about their emotions in different situations.

When children become good at recognizing and describing their emotions, it’s easier to advance to the next step: showing empathy towards others, a vital life skill. Never pass judgment on a child’s emotions. Let the child know that all emotions are normal. Learning how to manage actions and to self-regulate strong emotions is a key to social awareness.

The child might not be familiar with all the emotions in the app. By giving examples, telling stories, reading books, and playing with the emotions in the app, you can help the child to name and identify new emotions. This will be your key to opening a meaningful discussion with the child about emotions, as well as understanding and managing them.

We take privacy seriously

The application is safe for your child to use and no internet connection is needed. We don’t gather any usage data and there are no advertisements, outside links, or in-app purchases available. The app works offline.

Learning through play

Moka Mera Emotions was developed in Finland, and it is based on the Finnish method of early childhood education. In order to produce the best possible content, the app has been developed in collaboration with educators and researchers.

We utilize the power of ”learning through play”, a scientifically proven concept of learning which combines training with gameplay. This means that learning happens seamlessly and is fun and the skills acquired are easy to remember.