What are emotional experiences?

Emotional experiences are like feelings that happen inside you when something interesting happens around you.

Imagine you have a favorite toy, let's say it’s a red ball. When you play with it and laugh, that’s happiness. But if someone takes your ball without asking, you might feel sadness or even anger. These are all types of emotional experiences, they’re how your inside feels when something happens outside.

Sometimes, you can predict what will make you feel a certain way. If you know your friend is going to give you ice cream, you might get excited before even tasting it. That excitement is also an emotional experience, it's like your brain giving you a little cheer.

Other times, feelings come suddenly. Like when you trip and fall, ouch!, that’s surprise or maybe even fear, depending on how hard you bumped your knee.

Emotional experiences are just your body and mind telling you what's going on inside, based on what happens around you. And just like playing with your ball, they can be fun, sad, happy, or anything in between!