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EthicsElementaryPrimary

How to teach empathy

Empathy is sensing what another person feels and imagining what they think, including the person you don't side with. This page explains empathy for elementary students, with a free activity where Sparky draws one moment from two kids' points of view.

Jemel Fanfan

Jemel Fanfan | Founding Member at Flint

Title card reading 'How to teach empathy', next to three chat cards: a student says the boy who knocked over the tower was being mean, Sparky asks her to look at Marcus's View and say what he wanted, and she says both kids in a harder story are kind of right.

"The AI tutor I created took into account each student's English level and helped them write something they could understand. I then created another AI tutor that listened to the students as they practiced and gave feedback on their spoken English."

Nick HouseNick House, PYP Y5 Homeroom Teacher at Changchun American International School

Why this matters

A student can define empathy as feeling what someone else feels and still decide, the moment her block tower falls, that the kid who knocked it over was being mean. A worksheet question about how one character feels never asks about the other kid. The teacher has to wait for the next recess argument to find out who can see the other side.

What empathy activities for kids should practice

Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people's emotions, together with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling (Greater Good Science Center). The same page says the second part, "cognitive empathy," is sometimes called "perspective taking." Sympathy is feeling for someone ("I am so sorry you are hurting"), and empathy is feeling with them ("I feel your disappointment") (Greater Good Magazine). Harvard's Making Caring Common project adds that empathy also means caring about and valuing the other person, and that children have the capacity for empathy but don't develop it on their own (Making Caring Common).

An empathy activity for kids asks a student to name what each person in one moment feels and why, including the person the student doesn't side with.

In the Flint activity, Sparky tells each student a short story about one moment between two kids and draws the moment twice, once as each kid saw it. A worksheet can't send a student back to the picture of the kid they left out, and Sparky does that until the student gives a feeling and a reason for both kids.

Sparky gets Isla to see the other kid's side

Isla ends up naming how both kids feel, then gives both sides of a harder story where each kid is partly right. Every student gets the same activity, and Sparky's stories and replies depend on each student's interest and answers.

Sparky builds the story from Isla's interestSparky sends Isla back to the picture she skippedA right answer gets a harder story
I

Isla

Interest: Building block towers and LegoStarting point: Only sees her own side

Isla

hi im isla. i like building block towers and lego, i made a lego castle that was taller than my cat

Sparky

I love that you're into building, so today's story is going to feel very real to you. At indoor recess, Isla spends a long time building a tall block tower. Marcus runs past to get a ball and accidentally knocks the tower over. Isla yells at Marcus. How does each kid feel, and why?
Two cartoon pictures Sparky drew of the same moment in a classroom. In Isla's View, a girl in a purple sweater kneels on the rug with her hands on her cheeks, looking at a pile of fallen blocks. In Marcus's View, a boy in a blue hoodie runs toward a beach ball and looks back in surprise as the block tower he bumped tips over.
ImageIsla's View and Marcus's View

Isla

isla feels really mad and sad because she worked so long on her tower and marcus wrecked it. marcus was being mean, he should of looked where he was running

Sparky

You did a great job explaining how Isla feels. Now take another look at Marcus's View. Notice his face and the ball near him. What do you think Marcus actually wanted in that moment, and how do you think he felt when the tower fell?

Isla

oh. his face looks scared like oh no. he just wanted to get the ball he didnt even see the tower. so he feels bad and kind of scared, and then isla yelled at him so maybe he feels sad too

Sparky

This one is a little harder because both kids have a good reason for how they feel. At recess, Isla and her friend Priya both want to pick the game. Isla says they should play four square because she's been waiting all week to play. Priya says they should play tag because she already asked three other kids to join. How does each kid feel, and why?
Two cartoon pictures Sparky drew of a moment on the playground. In Isla's View, the girl in the purple sweater frowns and points at a painted four square court while other kids run across the playground. In Priya's View, a girl in a teal hoodie turns toward three classmates waiting with her, while Isla stands by the four square court.
ImageIsla's View and Priya's View

Isla

isla feels frustrated cuz she waited all week for four square. priya feels worried because she already asked 3 kids and they will be let down. they are both kind of right. they could play four square first and then tag

Sparky

Both kids have a real reason to feel the way they do, and nobody is the bad guy. And your idea to play four square first and then tag? That's called a compromise.

Saw Marcus's side, then gave both kids' reasons in a harder story

Between the two stories, Sparky asked what each kid could say to the other, and Isla answered that Marcus could offer to help rebuild the tower and the builder could say sorry for yelling. Sparky gave the builder in the story the student's own name. Isla is an example student, and Sparky's replies are shortened.

What Flint did for Isla

  • Sparky built the first story around Isla's block towers and drew the moment twice, as Isla's View and Marcus's View.
  • When Isla called Marcus mean, Sparky sent her back to Marcus's View to say what he wanted and felt, without saying it for her.
  • After Isla named both kids' feelings, Sparky told a harder recess story where both kids had a good reason, and drew it from both sides.

A teacher can't do this by hand for 30 students, and Sparky does it in every student's chat.

The activity page shows who still sees only one side

While the class works, Needs attention shows the teacher which student is stuck and on which message. After three or more students submit, activity analytics lists what the class did well, where students went wrong, and a follow-up to practice next.

Flint's activity page for the One Moment, Two Points of View activity. Needs attention shows that one student has described only the builder's feelings in both stories and wrote 'he did it on purpose'. Activity analytics says most students named a feeling and a reason for the kid who knocked the tower over after one look at his picture, and 17 students suggested what each kid could say to the other. 6 students named a feeling with no reason. The follow-up suggests retelling a moment from this week's recess from the other kid's point of view. The Sessions table lists three students: two submitted and one still in progress.

Example activity page

After an ethics class looks at two recess stories from both sides

The school and students are made up for this page.

Set up the activity for free

Open the empathy activity in Flint's public library, select Use activity to copy it into a free Flint account, and assign it to a class. The activity's guidelines tell Sparky to draw each story from both kids' points of view, so there is no setting to turn on. Students type their answers in the chat, so the activity needs no printouts.

For more ethics activities, see Flint for ethics.

Start the activity for free

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