In a world that is becoming increasingly harsh and unkind, it’s becoming even more important to teach empathy to children by inculcating a culture of empathy in school. Here is a list of activities for students that can be easily built into the student schedule with ease and challenge them to be a better version of themselves every day.
1. Notes of Appreciation
Give each of your students sticky notes and give them ample opportunity to write positive messages addressed to one of their teachers and classmates. Locate an empty wall in your classroom and allow students to neatly stick their messages of appreciation onto the wall. Read out all the sticky notes and watch their faces light up!
Learn more: Teach Starter
2. Classroom Pantry
Increase your students’ capacity for empathy by asking them to bring pantry items in on a voluntary basis, and create a system where the less privileged students in class can feel free to take whatever they want from this community pantry.
Learn more: WCS Kids
3. Clothing Drive
This is another easy opportunity to teach middle school students the idea of empathy. Tell them that not all children are fortunate enough to be able to afford decent clothes. Ask them to donate their gently worn clothes if possible. Once the whole class has brought something, collect and donate all articles of clothing to an orphanage or charity.
Learn more: The Early Childhood Academy
4. Kindness Door Art Competition
Grab some pieces of paper and tell your students to draw door art keeping the theme of kindness in mind. This is a great opportunity for students to exercise their creative skills and compete with fellow students. The student with the best idea gets to execute it as door art!
Learn more: Teach Starter
5. Box of Compliments
This fun activity can continue for a few days on end. Decorate a shoebox and cut own a slit in the center of it. Give students slips of paper and ask them to write anonymous compliments about their classmates. Read out a few compliments at the end of class each day.
Learn more: Teach Starter
6. Kindness in Chalk
This is an excellent activity that will allow your students to be outdoors and put everyone in a positive mood. Give everyone a few pieces of chalk, take them outside the classroom and get them to draw on the school’s sidewalks. It can be something as simple as a smiley face, a rainbow, or just a few words of motivation or encouragement!
Learn more: Teach Starter
7. Mend the Heart
This is a powerful activity that will hopefully help turn your students into more empathetic people. Give each student a separate sheet of paper, and tell them to draw a heart on it, and cut it out. Ask them to crumple it, and once they do, ask them to restore it to its original position. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to do so – a perfect representation of the fact that broken hearts are not easy to fix.
Learn more: Teach Starter
8. Kindness Checklist
This is yet another easy way to build empathy in children. Download a kindness checklist online, print it out, and distribute it amongst the students. Give them a month to work on it. The aim is to tick off as many acts of kindness as possible. At the end of the month, the kids with the most amount of tick marks can get a “Certificate of Kindness”.
Learn more: Ripple Kindness
9. Kindness Bookmarks
Another simple but positive, mood-boosting activity that encourages not only kindness but also reading age-appropriate books. Print out and cut a few kindness-themed bookmarks. Ask students to decorate them and laminate them and use them to read and enhance their language arts skills as well!
Learn more: Ripple Kindness
10. A Patchwork Quilt of Kindness
Give each student a piece of patchwork. This can either be blank for the students to fill out or have uplifting notes or an appreciation message focused around kindness. Stitch all the patches together to form a quilt and donate it to someone in need!
Learn more: Ripple Kindness
11. Hug Coupons
Kindness month is the per0fect time to print, cut, and distribute these hug coupons. The positive effects of a hug are well documented across a range of people, and this activity will enhance students’ compassionate listening skills since it will challenge them to keep their eyes and ears open for people who might need a hug!
Learn more: Ripple Kindness
12. Surprise Janitorial Staff
Start the year off on a positive note by acquiring a list of birthdays of all the janitorial staff members. This group of people is integral to the running of any school but is often ignored or made to feel invisible. On each birthday, bake a cake and get students to sing “Happy Birthday” as they cut their cake!
Learn more: Tip Hero
13. Buddy Bench
Here is another one of the easier acts of kindness. Talk to your school principal and see if you can paint a few benches around the school and rebrand them as “buddy benches”. Anybody who needs a friend can let his or her fellow students know simply by sitting on the bench!
Learn more: TMJ4
14. Group Discussion
During your classroom lessons, talk to children about what the definition of empathy is by giving everyday examples of depictions of empathy. Challenge students to lean in and ask their friends and family how they are doing on a regular basis. Tell them that earnest listening and paying attention to other peoples’ body language can give them a clue about how they’re feeling.
Learn more: Free Spirit
15. Read a Book
This creative activity will enhance your students’ active listening skills by getting the entire classroom to participate in a read-aloud of a book that emphasizes the importance of kindness when it comes to building healthy relationships. You can get a teaching assistant to do this while you catch up on any pending lecture notes!
16. Notes in Library Books
This is the perfect activity to teach kindness to introverted middle schoolers. Give everyone plenty of paper to write down as many positive messages as possible. Dedicate a class period to take them to the library and give them a bit of time to slip their hand-written note(s) into random books.
Learn more: Day Zero Project
17. A Moment of Praise
This activity is best for a chatty class who needs their communication skills to be redirected in a more positive direction. Start the day by giving each of your students a compliment, and tell them to think of a compliment for the partner on their right.
Learn more: Social Emotional Workshop
18. Practice Accountability
Force students to have a sense of ownership about their negative actions by calling them out on them and asking them what they should have done differently in that situation. This will help build better relationship skills over time.
Learn more: Overcoming Obstacles
19. Digital Jigsaw
This is a popular activity that children can complete with their fellow students. Find a kindness-themed digital jigsaw and watch them come together to finish it! The digital jigsaw is best projected onto a large smart board at the front of the class so that students can work on it together as a group.
Learn more: Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
20. Kindness Word Search
Make your classroom lessons more engaging and less monotonous by including this fun crossword! Print out as many copies as you need and put a timer on the board and let the students race against each other to finish.
Learn more: Worksheet Place
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