Emotion locomotion: promoting the emotional health of elementary school children by recognizing emotions.

Emotion recognition is a critical life skill children need for mental health promotion to meet the complexities and challenges of growing up in the world today. Five nursing students and their instructor designed Emotion Locomotion, a program for children ages 6-8 during a public health nursing practicum for an inner-city parochial school. Emotion Locomotion used an analogy that the "engine" of a train represents the "individual" and the train "cars" represent various emotions, such as happiness, sadness, calmness, and anger.