Introduction. The place of emotions in child and adolescent participation processes has not been a widely discussed topic; however, such emotions play an important role in the development of actions involving others. Objective. This article gives an account of some of the emotions that are key and which promote the collective actions undertaken by the children and adolescents who make part of the Participation Councils in Medellín. Methodology. In a comprehensive exercise, the emotions associated with the deployment of actions in the communities were researched through ten focus groups with ten participants each, and 21 social mapping meetings with an average of 20 participants each, corresponding to the City Council, the 16 district councils, and the five township councils, respectively. Results. It is important to highlight the potential that council members attribute to friendship, indignation, fear, and joy as decisive emotions in their shaping as political subjects and in the resulting collective actions that may be implemented for a critical interpretation of their contexts and for building, based on their own conditions of vulnerability, viable and socially productive alternatives regarding a decent life for all. Conclusions. Emotions both determine the ways in which the council members relate to the world and to themselves and drive their collective actions, which when carried out in public settings and in function of the common good, acquire the nature of political actions that, in turn, favor their shaping as political subjects.