Well Never Be Those Kids Again
Without a doubt, 2020 was a difficult year for all of u.s.. For school-aged children, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic safely as well entailed adjusting to virtual learning and distancing from their friends. But as many students return to the classroom — and as some enter a classroom for the start time — some other hurdle looms. Just like adults, kids volition have to acquire to exist around other people once more, including peers with identities and experiences that differ from their own.
With this in mind, information technology'south important to develop strategies to teach kids empathy and kindness early on, particularly every bit they brainstorm to socialize in person again. Activities like role-playing and reading are only a few ways to help students connect with their emotions likewise as the emotions of others. Here, we've rounded up a few great activities that teach empathy — for kids and adults.
Having story time with younger children or offering new reading material to older children can exist a slap-up opportunity for children to learn empathy. If illustrations are used in the story, yous can run into if younger kids can name the emotions of the characters' faces. Ask the children how these characters might be feeling and if they have e'er felt the same manner (scared, excited, etc.). Additionally, permit them run into that you are concerned for or connected to the characters likewise and so they can see that it's important to care for the well-being of others.
For kids who are older, teachers or parents can provide special questions or journal prompts to better understand the characters in their books. The questions may ask scholars to imagine what the characters might feel when making different choices or in their current circumstances.
Older Children Can Write Out Feelings in an Emotion Periodical
An emotion journal is a great way for kids to brainstorm to connect with their own feelings. Teachers and parents alike can incorporate journal time at a certain betoken in the day to allow them to write most their highs and lows.
Children can share parts of their periodical entries with their peers if they are comfy. Ultimately, writing out their feelings (and maybe sharing them with others) allows them to learn to limited themselves healthily. If kids discuss their feelings — or permit them out in a good for you manner — they can begin to build empathy past relating to each other.
Random Acts of Kindness or Volunteering Volition Encourage Kids to Show Empathy
Doing random acts of kindness or taking part in a volunteer experience will assistance kids acquire to think almost other people's feelings, and maybe put them ahead of their own. Teachers or parents can create a jar or chart where a student can track one act of kindness completed during the week.
Information technology's also great for children to discuss how being kind makes people experience good as opposed to bullying or mean acts that make people feel bad. Their beliefs tin can exist reinforced also by talking about how volunteering or the human action of kindness made them feel as well. Likely, they volition exist excited and happy that something they did helped someone else.
Children Tin Create 'Feelings Collages' to Larn Emotions
For younger kids, especially those who are shy and quiet, creating a "feelings collage" volition help them express their emotions. With this unique collage, they tin can learn to read faces, body linguistic communication, and the emotions of others likewise.
Children can cut and glue pictures from magazines onto affiche boards or construction paper. These pictures would have people expressing any kind of feeling (happiness, sadness, fear, etc.). Kids could fifty-fifty label the images they glue with a feeling word, and, afterward, share with their peers if desired. The collages can be used at schoolhouse or dwelling house to practice identifying and labeling feelings. If they desire to really get creative, kids can effort their hand at creating drawings of different people with various emotions.
Imaginative Roleplay Helps Students See Emotions in Existent Life
Roleplaying allows kids to see circumstances from a completely dissimilar perspective than their own. Teachers or parents can encourage children to step into the shoes of someone different from them, asking them about unlike scenarios like, What if you were at a new school without any friends? or If you saw someone getting bullied, what would y'all practise — and how would you lot experience?
While watching someone act out a "function," other kids could chinkle in most the faces or body language of the person. This allows them to acquire to read people ameliorate, which tin exist a major pro in the time to come as an adult. Roleplaying like this really helps put circumstances into perspective and even helps change behaviors. Plus, younger kids love to play pretend, and then it'south a win-win!
Teachers and Parents Should Model Empathy to Kids
You've certainly heard of the saying, "Practise as I say, not as I practice." That will certainly non help teach empathy. While kids may choice upwardly some good habits that are taught past parents, teachers, and other authority figures, children model what they see, fifty-fifty if the developed isn't aware that they're existence observed. Kids are e'er paying attention, and so it's important to model empathetic behavior as much equally possible.
For case, teachers should be mindful of their interactions with other adults whether in-person or on screen. Parents should be careful not to snap at or scoff each other or their children at home. While trying to completely avoid conflict is incommunicable, how we speak to and treat each other matters.
Resources Links:
- "Developing Empathy: 8 Strategies & Worksheets for Becoming More than Compassionate" via Positive Psychology
- "twenty+ Strategies for Teaching Empathy" via Pathway 2 Progress
- "Empathy Activities" via Didactics Evolution Center
- "5 Activities for Building Empathy in Your Students" via Brookes Web log
Source: https://www.symptomfind.com/health/activities-that-teach-empathy?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740013%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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