Did you know that you develop empathy skills through the influence of the adults around you as a child? Many people used to believe that you were born with empathy, however, researchers now believe that it is an even split between nature and nurture.
This proves how important it is to develop empathy skills in students from as early as 3 years old. But how can you develop empathy skills? This is the question we will explore in this blog post.
Do you value the importance of teaching soft skills like empathy, communication and time management? Download the free soft skills guide now!
Keep reading for 5 creative ways to develop empathy skills in your classroom!
1. Develop Empathy with Versatile Task cards
I love using task cards! Mostly because they are so versatile! Some creative ways to use task cards include:
- Bell ringers
- 5-minute morning discussion cards
- Rotation stations
- Competition style
- Groupwork with a guest parent
- A brain break activity in the hallway
- A reward to do with a friend outside the classroom
I love these Empathy Questions for Students task cards because I created them using the strategies for developing empathy, which includes:
- Observing the feelings of others
- Putting yourself in other’s shoes
- Identifying your own emotional needs
- Taking action
Click here to check out these empathy task cards!
2. Use Daily Habits and Habit Trackers to Develop Empathy
I love some good daily habits! I have found that implementing strong daily habits are the best way to ensure I reach my goals. Do you have a goal to develop empathy skills in your students? Great! Let’s break this big goal so that we can identify one small habit we can do each day. Some examples include:
- Spending more time discussing our feelings
- Completing one role-play scenario that demonstrates empathy
- Reading stories that tell a unique perspective
Once you have chosen one daily habit, stick to it! Hold yourself and your students accountable. One way to do this is by using habit trackers. Click here to check out the student habit resource, which includes printable habit trackers!
3. Develop Empathy with Writing Prompts
Why not knock out some writing standards while teaching students about empathy? Similar to task cards, these daily writing prompts are a great way to get students working their empathy muscles!
Included in this resource are 24 writing prompts, with each one focused on developing empathy!
How to use this resource:
- Distribute either the printable or Google Slides version to students
- Each day, students read one daily prompt
- Students write a paragraph that is a direct response to the day’s writing prompt
- Once completed, students can discuss and share their responses with their peers
You would be surprised at how much impact one daily habit such as a daily writing prompt can have on students’ understanding of a certain skill such as empathy.
Want to learn more about this resource? Click here to check out the empathy writing prompts resource!
Click here to download the soft skills guide for teachers!
4. 5-minute debates
This is a no-prep resource and is a great way to practice empathy when you are short on time! For this activity, provide students with some type of “yes or no” prompt. Ideally, you want this to be a simple prompt, but a polarizing one. For example, “Pineapple on Pizza is delicious”. Then, ask students to go to one side of the room based on their stance on this topic. Then, make pairs by choosing one person from each side. Students will then have 2 minutes to argue their position. The catch: they must present their arguments for the opposite opinion of what they feel. For example, the person who doesn’t like pineapple on pizza must argue that pineapple on pizza is delicious!
Once both partners have presented their argument, come back together as a whole group to discuss how they felt, how difficult the task was and if their perspectives changed throughout the activity.
This activity is great for teaching students about being open-minded and opening their eyes to new perspectives!
Click here to download the soft skills guide for teachers!
5. Empathy maps
Empathy maps originated as a technique for business marketers to get inside the heads of their potential customers. But why save all of the fun for business folks?
Empathy maps are a visual representation of how someone speaks, thinks, acts and feels.
Empathy maps could be used by students when they are:
- Reading a fictional story and wanting to get into the mind of a character
- Getting to know their classmates better
- Trying to resolve a conflict with another student
- Having a difficult time understanding someone else’s perspective
This activity is a simple, fast and no-prep option if trying to teach students how to develop empathy skills!
Final Thoughts
Those were 5 creative ways to develop empathy skills in your students!
Have any other ideas or questions? Comment down below!
Don’t forget to grab the teacher’s guide to soft skills before you go. You can grab it now by clicking here!
1 thought on “5 Creative Ways to Develop Empathy Skills In Your Classroom”