Family and Homeschool Activities for Teaching Empathy

These family and homeschool activities are designed to complement the Empathy topic on BrainPOP Jr.

Emotion Charades
Remind your child that we can sometimes tell how people feel from their body language. Give a few examples, like clenching fist as if you were angry or bowing your head down as if you were sad.  

Play Emotion Charades by taking turns acting out an emotion without saying what it is. The person acting chooses an emotion and acts out what their body does when they feel that way. The other person guesses the emotion. After guessing correctly, prompt your child to describe a time they felt that way. If it was a strong emotion (e.g., sad, angry), ask how someone helped them feel better. Now switch roles, so whoever is the actor is now the guesser. 

Inside and Outside Emotions
Write down different emotions on little pieces of paper, fold them up, and put them in a bag. Have your child pick one of the emotions from the bag. Read it together. Then have your child draw a picture of someone feeling that emotion. Ask your child to make up a reason why the person they drew feels this way. Together write a caption for the picture. 

Next, ask your child to draw the emotion itself. For example, if  they drew a picture of a happy person, ask them to do a drawing of what happiness feels like on the inside. They may draw a picture of a rainbow, hearts, or ice cream cones. They may use a color that makes them happy. Discuss how different emotions look and feel, and let your child know that strong emotions are always more manageable if they’re shared with someone who shows us empathy. 

How I Show Empathy Game
On index cards or small squares of paper, write the beginning of sentences as follows. Then put the cards in a pile and shuffle them. Take turns with your child picking up a card and finishing the sentence.

• When a friend is angry, I can…
• When a friend is sad, I can…
• When a friend is confused, I can…
• When a friend is worried, I can…
• When a friend is hurt, I can…
• When a friend is scared, I can….