Back to school is an exciting time for children, but everybody knows it can also be a stressful time. The social-emotional aspects of school will challenge all children at some point during their education. Sometimes it's the children who feel the stress of dealing with the emotional complexities of being part of a classroom or school. Sometimes the children are unaware that their emotional behavior is creating social barriers and it's their parents, teachers and therapists who are stressed. As the developers of Kimochis say, "emotions are messy."

Kimochi plush toys use play to teach a child about his favorite subject - himself! Parents, teachers, and therapists select an animal with a personality that a child can relate to and tells the child the animal's story. Instead of shaming the child for being bossy or making the child feel like being moody means something is wrong with her, Kimochis uses interaction between the child, the character, small Kimochi pillows, and a guiding adult to teach the child to understand his emotional style, how feelings affect behaviors, and how those behaviors make others feel.

Kimochi (key.mo.chee) is the Japanese word for "feelings." Each of the five stuffed animals has it's own personality, backstory, and comes with a set of kimochi pillows. The Kimochis are printed with a facial expression on one side and a name for that feeling on the other. Children can select a Kimochi that describes how they are feeling and place it "inside" the animal's pocket as part of a safe and comfortable dialogue about feelings and behavior.



Do any of these Kimochi characters resemble a little person you know?

Cloud's feelings change quickly. This can make Cloud a little unpredictable and appear moody.


Bug is thoughtful, very cautious, and does not like change.


Lovey Dove is sweet and nurturing but also worries a lot. Dove wants to make everybody happy.


Huggtopus can be overly affectionate and sometimes gets a little carried away.


Cat likes to be in charge and can get a little bossy at times.


I love that there are exercises and ideas for parents and for teachers in the handbook and on the website. The toys can be used one on one or as part of a group activity. Here's a biggie for me - Kimochi's are thumbs-free. Meaning there is no companion dvd or electronic educational game!

It seems trite to say, but a toy that's designed to increase human interaction and to teach children how to relate to people should not require an LED screen. My kids have learned a lot from videos - we would be lost without Signing Time! But IMHO, children need to learn the subtleties of the complex world of emotional communication and social interaction from humans, not from computer generated graphics.

I started talking to both my children about their feelings before they were talking. Initially, my hope was to help them understand what they were feeling and to give them words to describe the intensity of their emotions so we could all survive the toddler years. As my Typically Developing preschooler's ability to express himself has increased, I've been surprised by how much he actually absorbs from our talks. Any parent who has had their two year old tell them they need to share knows what I'm talking about.

I talk about feelings with my non-verbal 5 year old, but I have to admit, I do it in a more simple way than I do with her younger and yakkier brother. We look at faces of characters in her books and talk about facial expression and what they might be feeling. If she acts mad or hurts I give her simple words to describe her feelings so she doesn't have to shout to express herself. I encourage her to look at faces and "see" what people might be feeling. But overall, I'm not practicing what I preach about Special Needs children absorbing more than they reveal when it comes to teaching Clara-Bear about how her feelings affects her actions. Most of the time I'm just guessing at what she feels unless she hits an extreme high or low.

In our home, emotional expression has become one of those areas where the squeakier child gets the attention. My TD son is just so out there with what he wants and what he feels. He's constantly talking, or jumping, now he's fallen down and crying, now he's laying on top of the dog, now he's taking Clara-Bear's toy. The noise and movement never stops and never stops affecting the dynamics of our household. The quieter Clara-Bear is, the louder Alan becomes. His personality just expands to fill any available space. Naturally, this extends to how he relates with other children.

To complicate things further, he has been housebound along with Clara-Bear every winter since he was born. This became a big deal for him after he turned three. He didn't just want to play with children his own age, he needed to. Clara-Bear is just starting to play with him, kind of a like a one year old baby sister would. It's not every day and only in specific ways.

Throw in that our isolation fuzzed our perception of Alan's speech articulation problems and now we have an outgoing, kind of bossy, 3 year old who has little experience playing with children his own age and is talkative but cannot be understood outside the family. Poor Alan's social-emotional life became very complicated very quickly when we were released from housebound status three months ago. I had no idea how useful our Kimochi Cat and the "Feel Guide" handbook that came with it would be during his rocky transition.

Both of my kids loved the Cat as soon as they saw it. It's huggable without being drapey and clingy. It feels safe to touch and hold. I love that there are no choke hazards - no button eyes, ribbons, or loose fur. Alan and I read the stories of all the Kimochi characters together as we sat in a waiting room. Each character has tips for how to use the Kimochi to connect, communicate, create, and practice emotional awareness.

I'm glad I read the entire Feel Guide. Even though the Cat best describes Alan's overall emotional style, we all know that labeling holds children back. There's a little of each Kimochi character in all of us. We also know how important it is to nurture positive aspects of our children's personalities and not just try to "fix" the negative aspects. I've learned ways to recognize, encourage, and redirect other strong emotions my little man throws out there during his busy day. He loves the power of choosing a little pillow to express his feelings. Having the Kimochi pillows reduces some of his communication frustration.

Some of my favorite tips? A gesture for when he's getting too silly out in public and needs to calm down before he gets in trouble. We now talk about how it's okay to be mad, but it's not okay to act mean when you're mad. Most parents are familiar with inside voice and outside voice. Have you taught your child about using a talking voice and a talking face? So many simple ways to deal with aspects of his character that have concerned me as he's moved into the real world of playing with kids outside the family. It's still hard for me to let him go, but Kimochis have given us some good tools to help him communicate his feelings and to help me guide him.

Parents and teachers can visit the Kimochi website for tips on using Kimochis at home or in the classroom and to view video clips of how Kimochis can be used with children. You can purchase your favorite Kimochi character directly from the Kimochi website for $25.00 or through Amazon.

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