Happier Minds brings emotional learning into a world children can explore through play. Using
familiar SmileyWorld® characters and expressions, children can check in with how they are
feeling, explore stories and interactive activities, and discover simple ways to understand
themselves and others. The experience explores themes including self-awareness, resilience,
kindness, social awareness, and responsible choices, making conversations around emotions
more approachable for young children. SmileyWorld® has spent nearly 30 years helping people
express how they feel, and its library of more than 3,000 icons gives children a simple, familiar
way to put a face to their emotions.
Happier Minds extends the work SmileyWorld has been doing in classrooms. Its Happier Schools
Project gives teachers and parents lesson plans, worksheets and activity cards covering 27 core
human emotions across five areas of emotional learning. It was developed with Professor
Dacher Keltner of the University of California, Berkeley, whose research identified those 27
distinct emotions, alongside UK education expert Jane Ballantine, and is available in 13
languages. Happier Minds takes the same thinking out of the classroom and into play at home.
The launch builds on SKIDOS’ broader commitment to supporting the whole child through
learning experiences that go beyond traditional academics. Emotional well‑being has been part
of the SKIDOS learning portfolio since 2023, alongside mathematics, reading, creativity, and
motor skills. The SKIDOS Emotional Well‑Being programme was developed with guidance from
subject matter experts and is structured around the CASEL framework, supporting key skills
such as self‑awareness, self‑management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible
decision‑making.
Activities such as the Mood Check-In encourage children to identify the emotions that reflect
how they feel, while stories and calming exercises give families natural opportunities to talk
about everyday emotions together. In Breathe Together, for example, children trace a loop while
breathing in and out, introducing a simple calming activity through guided play.
“Learning how to understand your own emotions is just as important as learning
numbers or words,” said Aditya Prakash, Founder & CEO, SKIDOS. “With Happier Minds,
we wanted to make those early conversations about feelings easier for children and
parents to start. SmileyWorld® gives children an expressive and playful way into those
conversations, while the activities encourage them to recognise how they feel,
understand others and discover simple strategies they can use in everyday life.”
Janet Martin, Chief Product Officer - Lifestyle Consumer Products, The Smiley® Company,
comments: “SmileyWorld has been helping people express how they feel since 1997, and
children are often the ones who need that most - they feel things long before they have the
words. Our Happier Schools Project gave teachers a way to help with that. Happier Minds gives
children a way to do it themselves, and SKIDOS have built a world around the icons so that
naming a feeling becomes part of play rather than a lesson.”
The experience also reflects SKIDOS' wider approach to turning screen time into active learning
time by creating experiences that are playful, engaging and developmentally meaningful.
SKIDOS currently offers more than 1,000 educational games and activities covering areas
including math, reading, emotional well-being, creative play, problem-solving and motor skills.
Happier Minds, a SKIDOS x SmileyWorld® experience, launches on the SKIDOS platform on 1
October 2026.