Some, like happiness, seem to be innate,

but others, like disgust, are learnt from experience.

In this activity you and your kids will try to 'unlearn' something that disgusts you.

Alright, today, we're going to be doing an activity all about emotions.

So I'm going to show you some pictures of people's faces,

and I want you tell me what emotion you think they're having.

So what emotion do you think he's having?

Angry.

And why do you think he's angry?

Because of the way he's putting his face, like...

And what things make you angry?

When my sister touches my stuff that I don't want her to touch.

Okay! What about this one?

Happy!

And why do you think he's happy?

Because he's smiling and his eyes are shut.

And what makes you happy?

Chocolate.

Chocolate is nice...

I've got another one to show you, but just before, I am a bit hungry...

Disgusting! Eww!

Do you want to touch it?

No!

Give it a little touch...

No!

That's a sausage...

It's quite nice!

It looks like a sausage.

Do you wanna bite some? Have a little bit, have a little bit, have a little bit!

So, you wouldn't eat that?

What about... this?

Yes!

And what's the differences between those?

That is nice and that is disgusting.

One is poo so it has already been digested, and this one hasn't.

Raisins, biscuits, chocolate...

What can you see in there?

I can see biscuit crumbs, and that's the chocolate and raisins.

So we're gonna have a go and see if we can make this stuff look like this.

Okay!

Experience has taught us that nappies don't contain anything good, let alone delicious.

Experience has taught us that nappies don't contain anything good,

let alone delicious.

So when confronted with an open nappy,

and someone willing to eat it's contents, we feel disgusted.

However, when Sahara makes her own poo,

she should become confident in its edible qualities,

losing the sense of disgust she felt before.

It's really simple to make these at home.

All you have to do is chop up some chocolate bars and place them in a bowl.

And then carefully crush up some biscuits,

placing them inside a bag helps control the mess.

Next add some golden syrup into the bowl.

Then put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time,

Stirring until melted.

Okay! So I'm gonna give it the first stir...

After this add in crushed biscuits and dried fruit, if you like.

Then give the whole thing a good stir.

When cool enough to handle, mould your mix into a classic sausage shape,

or your preferred poo style.

For maximum disgust we find serving on some toilet paper or a nappy really helps!

(We recommend using a clean one though…)

Sahara's willingness to handle the mixture

is already a sign of her diminishing sense of disgust for this stuff.

The more she handles it the more familiar she will be.

This is because disgust feels like a natural response it has to be learnt.

After carrying out the activity,

Sahara has taught herself that the fake poo is actually made from delicious chocolate.

So what makes it change?

What makes it change is that we've made it now,

so now I know what it's actually made of, and I'm not disgusted by it any more.

I know it's made of chocolate and biscuits and stuff,

instead of poo.

It teaches you the difference between different emotions,

like you're emotions can change very easily.

And it's not very hard to change our emotions.

Would you like to have a go showing it to someone else?

Yeah!

Shall we get your sister over?

After completing the activity it can be fun

to get your kids to show these fake poos to someone who hasn't seen them

So they can see for themselves the differences in emotional response!

No! No! No!

Me and Sahara had a lot of fun doing this activity today.

It was quite interesting for me to see Sahara thinking about emotions

and how they can change,

and how different information can affect the emotions you feel.

Now if you'd like to have a go doing this activity,

you can download some infosheets on the Ri website,

and don't forget to like and subscribe!