Empathy can be a very tricky skill to build in kids. Heck, lots of adults struggle to be empathetic!
Starting early with very young kids is key. Here are three activities/strategies that can be used with kids of all ages but are particularly beneficial to younger kiddos.
- Caring for Plants, Animals and Babies – Involving young children in caring for plants, animals and babies is a very effective and “entry-level” way to begin building empathy. Model and assign specific tasks to them and discuss how they are helping that living thing to survive and thrive. Have conversations around how we are all responsible for caring for other living things in the world and encourage them to think of ways they can do so. Eventually, you can take a more global perspective with this strategy by moving from them caring for siblings, houseplants and family pets to caring for these things in their classroom or school community, neighborhood or city and beyond.
- Story Talk – This strategy is exactly what it sounds like – talking about the characters in a story. By discussing their lives, their problems and hardships, and how they might be similar or different from us, we can begin to open our children’s eyes to all the different types of people who share our world. Beginning to understand the concept of diversity is a critical first step toward building empathy. If the book calls for it, ask your kids or students to brainstorm ways they could help the character through compassionate acts. This is a great way to, not only build empathy, but encourage kids to take their empathy one step further by acting on it.
- Walk the Line – While this activity from Big Life Journal is geared toward older children, you can certainly adjust to make it work for younger kids. The idea is to help a group of kids begin to see how others have similar experiences as them and begin to build empathy for people who seemingly “don’t have problems” or “have it easier than they do.” With younger children, simply focus on identifying the things that kids in the group have in common. This is a great first step. You can also extend this activity through a variety of writing activities that are mentioned at the article link.
What other activities do you use to build empathy in your kids or students? I’d love to hear about them so please share!
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