Personal & Social Development Emotional Literacyusually ages 7–9

Hidden and Masked Feelings

Recognise that people sometimes hide or mask their true feelings — smiling when they're actually sad, or saying 'I'm fine' when they're not — and understand why someone might do this

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Give an example of a time someone might hide their feelings and explain why
Identify mismatches between someone's words and their body language
Explain that hiding feelings is common but that it's usually better to share with someone trusted

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

If a friend at school says 'I'm fine' but looks upset and is being very quiet, can your child recognise that the friend might not actually be fine?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Expressing Feelings with Wordsages 5–7Recognising masked feelings builds on expressing own feelings appropriately

Mild to Strong Emotionsages 7–9Recognising masked feelings benefits from understanding emotion intensity

Hidden and Masked Feelingsthis skill · ages 7–9

Unlocks

Culture and Experience Shape Emotionsages 9–11Cultural shaping of emotions builds on knowing people mask/hide feelings

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

This skill sits outside the F–6 Australian Curriculum — no candidate code matched (v0.1). No NSW K–6 outcome code matched (v0.1). No Victorian Curriculum 2.0 code matched (v0.1).

Nearby on the map

Emotion Vocabularyages 7–9 How Emotions Feel in Your Bodyages 7–9 Mild to Strong Emotionsages 7–9 Culture and Experience Shape Emotionsages 9–11

All Emotional Literacy skills →