I received a Kimochis Bug and a set of Mixed Feelings to review. “Kimochi (Key.Mo.Chee) means ‘Feeling’ in Japanese.” Kimochis are a really cute and fun line of toys that are stuffed animals with a pocket on their belly to hold their current feeling. It’s a great tool to use to teach children about feelings and about learning how to express their feelings as well. They have five stuffed animal characters in their line of toys – Cloud, Huggs – an Octopus, Bug, Lovey – a Dove, and Cat. Each character has it’s own unique special characteristics and set of feelings that they come with them.

Bug is a caterpillar and a butterfly whose wings have a special pocket you can tuck them into to make for some fun imaginative play! He comes with 3 feelings including Happy, Brave, and Left-Out. He also comes with a Kimochis Feel Guide which is a useful little booklet talking about how to use Kimochis in play and learning with your children and ways to discuss the different feelings. For example, with the feeling Brave it tells you how you can teach your child about doing the right thing even when it may be hard or trying something new even if they are scared. It suggests talking about how it feels to be brave and practice what your child can do in a situation that might make them feel scared so they can act bravely when the time comes!

I thought the Kimochis Bug was super cute and very well made. My boys LOVED the feelings and carried them all around the house. It was a great and easy way to open up conversation about how my kids might be feeling and try to encourage them to explain how they feel rather then shutting down and just being mad, for example. Kimochis also sells separate sets of feelings in 3 different packs which each come with 6 feelings each to add to the fun!