Islands of Personality (Inside Out)

If you haven’t seen Disney Pixar’s Inside Out, I dare you watch it and not cry. I think that’s nearly impossible.

As we are introduced to the characters (emotions) that rule Riley, we are also introduced to Riley’s Islands of Personality. These islands are what make Riley, Riley.

I love this part of the movie, because it always gets me thinking. What are my Islands of Personality? Even further, what would my dragon’s Islands of Personality be?

I decided to find out the best I could.

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This took some thought process, and naturally didn’t produce the results I expected. I was sure at least one of them would do a family island or something of the kind. But, no. They both made specific LEGO islands. (Although I know my middle dragon did this because my oldest did, it is still very fitting.) My oldest made a LEGO + Harry Potter Island, and my middle did a LEGO + Batman island. My youngest, bless him, informed us his was a “colorful island.” I think his is my favorite.

After the boys made their Islands of Personality, we did another craft that took some thinking.

Supplies:

• Paint Samples in: Yellow, Blue, Red, Green, and Purple
• Construction Paper
• Printable of Personal Outline
• Glue
• Coloring materials
• Pen/Sharpie

Earlier in the day, I cut up paint samplers so they were shapely for the craft. If you can find thin ones, this is not necessary. The only ones available to us were large rectangular ones from Lowe’s.

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The firs step for the dragons was to use the body outline to color a picture of themselves. Then, they cut out the outlines and glued them into the middle of a piece of construction paper (they picked their favorite colors, which I thought was very appropriate). We also used googly eyes (but you don’t have to) because the dragons are slightly obsessed with them.

After that, they each got a paint sample in each color. We took the time to make lists of things on each paint sample.

Yellow = Joy

Blue = Sadness

Red = Anger

Green= Disgust

Purple = Fear

These lists were specific to each dragon. My middle (4) had a harder time thinking of things for Disgust, Fear, and Anger than anything else, while my oldest (8) struggled just a little with Disgust.

After making the lists, we trimmed the paint samplers accordingly and glued them on to the paper. They put the feelings they personally thought they feel the most over the hands of their self-portraits, and then put the other ones where they pleased.

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However, I don’t think I realized just how eye-opening this craft would be. It was a wonderful way for us to talk about their feelings and the “whys” behind the feelings for each thing on their list.

My oldest had the Corona Virus listed under “fear”, and it tore at my heart. While we have been talking about it with him (though not in too much detail, but enough to explain the changes and restrictions), it was still bothering him a great deal.

My middle’s greatest fear is being alone, which we also talked about a lot.

But not only did this activity bring to light the worries, sadness, and anger- but the joy. And the joy was what we enjoyed talking about the most.

Clipart courtesy of Disneyclips.com