Emotions Sliders (Empathy Builders)

Teaching empathy to kids can be
tricky. Our little ones in particular have a tough time putting themselves in
other people’s shoes and thinking about how other people feel from their point
of view. Emotion sliders are a fun and interactive way to help teach little kids
about other people’s big emotions.

With my small groups, I start
by discussing each emotion in depth. We use these posters and chart as a guide.

We go over each emotion, one at
a time, describing how the emotion feels and providing examples of situations
that may make us feel that way.

Once we have a clear
understanding of each feeling, we move into the “What Emotion Do You See” card
game.

I place all the cards upside
down in a pile and give each student their own sunglasses sliders template,
allowing them to choice the color sunglasses they wish to use.

I always have to give the kids
a moment to play with the sliders before I can start the game. They are
fascinated with manipulating the slider piece and playing with the sunglasses cards.

Once students get playing with
the templates out of their systems, we start our empathy builder game. Taking turns,
students pick a card, read it out loud and then show how that situation would
make them feel using the emotions slider. They move the slider until the
emotion they think the person would feel is displayed in the middle of the
sunglasses.

It is such a fun way to get
kids thinking about how others feel. The conversations that follow and the
reactions to the sunglasses sliders are truly interesting.

Download your own copy here!

Let’s Connect: