Review by Vicki Windman , Common Sense Education | Updated May 2014

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Emotionary by Me.Mu

Name: Emotionary by Me.Mu
Item: Emotionary by Me.Mu
Rating: 3
Author: Vicki Windman

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Free app helps kids explore feelings using a daily diary

Subjects & skills

Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.

2–7

Great for:

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3 images

Emotionary lets kids identify and reflect on emotions in themselves and others.

Users can add a new entry to choose to view past entries.

Users can add a picture to illustrate an emotion they recorded.

Pros: Easy-to-use interface lets students explore and reflect.

Cons: The app only comes with six emotions, and that simple interface can feel limited.

Bottom Line: A neat tool for helping kids identify how they feel in different situations.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Teachers can use Emotionary as a daily warm-up activity. Project different emotions from your iPad with the pre-loaded faces and talk with kids about what faces look like when they're happy, sad, or mad. Teachers can also use the app as a daily warm-up activity and let kids move at their own pace. As students are entering their diary notes, teachers can work one-on-one with struggling writers. Depending on the setup of a classroom, students may have to take turns when using the microphone feature.

What Is It?

Emotionary by Me.Mu is an easy-to-use app that can help kids identify their feelings through a variety of mediums. It's helpful to work with kids as they begin using this app. Kids may need verbal prompting as they begin to understand what an emotion may look like. Enter a child's information under "add a student" to begin adding diary entries. First, kids choose from a list of six emotions to describe how they're feeling today. On the next screen, they get four visual prompts: a camera to take a picture representing how they feel; a microphone to record "I feel ________ because"; an open book to search the device for photos that explain why they feel that way; and a keyboard to write about their feeling. Kids can view their entries to reflect on how they felt on different days.

Is It Good for Learning?

Kids can learn how to identify how they're feeling by using visuals. Helping kids understand their emotions is an integral part of their learning social skills and empathy. Kids may need verbal prompting as they begin to understand what an emotion may look like. The camera feature allows you to take a picture of your child to visually reinforce the identification and understanding of the emotion he or she may be feeling. If your child is verbal, you can have her use the built-in microphone to record why she's feeling a certain way. Kids who may not be able to verbally express themselves may be able to use the keyboard.

Emotionary by Me.Mu is a simple daily-diary tool that can help kids gain a better understanding of emotions. This easy-to-use app is, on the whole, a good way for kids to learn how they feel in different situations. Using a daily diary entry can help your child and you identify behavior patterns and what makes your child feel a certain way. The built-in feeling images could be enhanced by using both genders and more diversity, and it would be great if the feelings could have an auditory component so kids hear the emotion as well as see it. The app also would benefit from a mini-tutorial to help parents who are new to this type of tool help kids identify their feelings.

Rating Details

Overall Rating

Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

A simple design makes it easy for young kids to independently enter feelings in a daily diary. You can add your own images and audio to enhance engagement.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

The app uses a variety of approaches to help kids identify how they feel. Diary entries are saved for kids to reflect on.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

A tutorial would help both parents and kids differentiate the six visual images of feelings.

Common Sense Reviewer

Vicki Windman Special education instructor

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