Meet Zuri, and Bloom, her brain. It's show-and-tell day, and Zuri's tallest block castle just came crashing down. A feeling way bigger than "mad" shows up. Follow Bloom and do what feelings detectives do best: notice the clues, and name the feeling. Because when you name a big feeling… it starts to shrink!
The storyteller reads to you. Just tap the big button!
Follow Bloom: notice the clues, and name the feeling. When you name a big feeling, it starts to shrink!
Word Power
Tap each word. Then, if you want, say one out loud.
Now YOU say it: “I can notice it and name it!”
Say it out loud, loud enough that Bloom can hear you!
Detective-O-Meter
Solve each clue to make Bloom glow. 0/9
Zuri's Big-Feeling Day
Read the scene. Try the move. Notice it, and name it.
Part 1
The Castle Falls
CRASH!
It's show-and-tell day. Zuri felt a little nervous, but she built her tallest block castle to share, the biggest one yet! Then, on the way to the carpet, a friend rushed by and, CRASH, the castle tumbled down. Zuri's face got hot. Her hands squeezed into tight fists. This feeling was way bigger than “mad.”
Bloom says: Whoa, that's a BIG feeling. Big feelings come first, before we do anything else. Tap to see what's happening.
What's happening?
Say it: “Big feelings are okay.”
Part 2
Reset the Alarm
Zuri's heart is beating fast and her chest feels tight. That's her body's alarm bell: it rings loud, before she can even think. So before Zuri names the feeling, she takes one slow breath with Bloom.
Bloom says: Reset with Zuri. Breathe in slow through your nose… then let it out even slower, like you're blowing one big soft bubble. Feel the alarm get quiet.
Reset with Zuri
Say it: “Calm first. Then I can name it.”
Part 3
Be a Feelings Detective
Now Zuri can think. Bloom pulls out a little magnifying glass. “A feelings detective looks for clues,” Bloom says. Clues live on your face and in your body, and they tell you how you feel.
Bloom says: Let's notice the clues, detective. Tap each clue and hear what it tells us.
Tap a clue
Say it: “I can notice the clues.”
Part 4
Name It to Tame It
Zuri has the clues. Now for the best detective move of all: naming the feeling. “Mad” is close, but a good detective finds the exact word. Bloom holds up two.
Bloom says: Match the clues to the real name. Tap each feeling and hear what it means.
Tap to name it
Say it: “I name it, and it shrinks!”
Part 5
The Feeling Word Bank
Every feelings detective carries a word bank: a pocket full of feeling words. The more words you have, the better you can name what's inside. Zuri opens her word bank and finds three more.
Bloom says: Tap each feeling word to hear it. Then it's yours: pop it in your word bank!
Tap a feeling word
Say it: “More words, more power!”
Part 6
Reading Other Faces
Detectives can read OTHER people's faces too. It's another kid's turn now: Sam shares a rocket ship, and everyone claps. Zuri feels a new, prickly feeling. And across the room, she notices a clue on Sam's face.
Bloom says: Tap each face and name the feeling you notice.
Tap a face
Say it: “I can read faces, too.”
Part 7
The Big Feeling, Again
The frustrated feeling and the prickly jealous feeling are both still there, and Zuri just wants them GONE. What should a feelings detective do with a big feeling?
Bloom says: This is the biggest detective move of all. Pick what Zuri should do.
Choose Zuri's move
Part 8
The Feeling Shrinks
Zuri takes one slow breath and says it out loud to her teacher: “I feel frustrated that my castle fell, and a little jealous too.” Her teacher listens and nods. And then something amazing happens, just like Bloom said: the big feeling gets smaller. There's even room to try again.
Bloom says: Look what your detective work did! Tap each thing that grew.
Tap what grew
Say it: “Name it to shrink it.”
Part 9
Pass It On
Later, at the block table, Zuri sees her friend Sam. His rocket just fell over, and his face is hot and frowning: the very same big feeling from before. Zuri knows exactly what to do. Her whole day was practice for this moment.
Bloom says: Here's the best part of being a detective: helping a friend. Pick what Zuri says to Sam.
Pick what Zuri says
Say it: “Pass the power.”
Story complete
🕵️ You were a feelings detective with Zuri and Bloom. You followed all nine clues! You earned your Feelings Detective badge, and look how bright Bloom is glowing!
And here's the secret. The detective moves work anywhere a feeling gets big: at home, at school, on a hard day. Notice it, name it, and watch it shrink.
Want to say it one more time, like a real detective? “I can notice it and name it!”
Say it out loud, loud enough that Bloom can hear you!
Tell a grown-up: ask me what to do with a big feeling.
For Grown-Ups
What this builds (transformative SEL): Identity (“Who I am”) with a thread of Curiosity (“I wonder”).
Little kids often have just three feeling words (mad, sad, happy) for a whole world of feelings. When a feeling is big and doesn't have a name, it can spill out as a meltdown. This story teaches two skills that researchers call the heart of self-awareness: noticing the clues (on a face, in the body) and naming the exact feeling. Naming a feeling really does help calm the feeling brain. Kids sometimes call it “name it to tame it.” Naming doesn't make a feeling disappear; it makes it feel more like something you can carry.
Try these at home
When your child is upset, notice out loud first: “Your face looks scrunchy and your fists are tight.” Then offer a word: “Are you feeling frustrated?”
Grow the word bank in calm moments: point out proud, nervous, jealous, disappointed in books, shows, and your own day: “I feel nervous before a big meeting.”
Let every feeling be okay. There are no “bad” feelings, only big ones: the goal is naming, not getting rid of them.
Big, lasting feelings. Some feelings (missing someone, a deep sadness) can be very big and stay a long while, and naming them helps but doesn't fix them. Those are exactly the times to sit close, listen without rushing, and, if it feels too heavy, reach out to a counselor, doctor, or other trusted helper. You don't have to have the right words; being there is the thing.
This is a practice tool for rehearsing skills, not therapy, counseling, or a clinical service.
From The McCray Learning Lab, Elliott McCray, Ed.S.
This story is safe and private. Nothing is saved and nothing is sent anywhere. The Read to me narration only reads the story, never anything a child says. The optional “say it out loud” recording, if a child chooses to use it, lives only in that one moment on this device: it is never saved, never uploaded, and is gone the instant the page closes. When you close the page, you start fresh.