Activities and games to work empathy in children

We all agree that we should teach our little one techniques to get along better. Learn to understand the emotions of those around us, manage situations correctly and understand what happens around us are basic pillars that we must develop if we want to live in society.

In the same way that we teach them to read and write, we can also give children guidelines to work on their emotional intelligence. One of the key elements of emotional intelligence is empathy, this is defined as the ability to put ourselves in the place of others and understand their emotions. If you want to know more about how to develop this capacity in the little ones, we invite you to continue reading this article on Psychology-Online, in it you will find the best activities and games to work empathy in children.

Index

1. The importance of working on empathy
2. How to teach empathy to children
3. How to work empathy in the classroom
4. Activities and Games to develop empathy in children

As we have mentioned previously, it is necessary to teach children, from an early age, to understand the emotions of others. All (or almost all) of our day-to-day situations are characterized by being plagued by social interactions. Therefore, it is important to know how to relate to others and avoid interpersonal conflicts.

Empathy allows us to act with other people in mind. In addition, developing empathy also strengthens our personal development, improves the resilience and promotes self-esteem.

A child without empathy is a child without social skills and with very little emotional intelligence. Children without empathy can develop dangerous pathologies, such as oppositional defiant disorder And, in very extreme cases, they can reach adulthood with psychopathic personality traits.

To prevent little ones from growing up without this valuable ability, we can provide them with tools so that little by little, they learn to deduce emotional states of the person they are talking to. These tools evolve as children grow older, this is due to that there are certain activities that arouse more or less interest according to the evolutionary stage of the little ones.

The first step in teaching a child to be empathetic is to show empathy towards him or her. When we are little, we learn through observation of the oldest, we call this vicarious learning. Therefore, if they see that we behave with others taking their emotions into account, they will probably do the same with their circle of friends, at school, with other family members ...

What is empathy for children?

We must bear in mind that their concept of empathy is slightly different from ours. During First years of life, Babies act on instinct because they have not yet developed the proper tools for relating. Later on, the little ones begin to understand that other people also feel emotions, they even have a life and live it with the same intensity as them. Between the ages of 10 and 12, children are already able to do the exercise of put yourself in the place of the other and more easily understand her feelings.

For the development of empathy to occur correctly, the child must be helped to grow with these values ​​and ideas. Providing her with tools to work on empathy is a fundamental step in the child's growth within her environment.

Communication: the basis of empathy

A very valuable tool to promote emotional intelligence (and with it, empathy) is good communication. We must make the child understand how important the emotions of others are through a calm and non-argumentative speech.

When you ask us for advice, or we see that you are involved in a conflict with another person, we can help you through advice that works your education emotional, for example: telling him to listen to what the other person has to say, not to act out of anger, not to be selfish with the rest... In short, promote emotional intelligence through speech.

Listening to your problems also helps you notice the importance of listening to others. As the years go by, the little one will probably appreciate the good communication she had with us.

The little ones spend a large part of their time at school, surrounded by other children and the teachers. If we want to promote a good development of their empathy, we have to make sure that they also work on it in the classroom, some of the guidelines to do so are the following:

• Group activities: These types of dynamics help the child to expand her point of view and to listen to other opinions. When playing games or activities with other people, children have to act with others in mind in order to carry out the activity correctly. In this way, they practice empathy through something rewarding and fun.
• Resources and tabs: Another type of dynamics to work on empathy are the cards and theoretical resources (a story or a written exercise on empathy). This approach to emotional intelligence factors it is also important. Despite not being a certainly playful activity, the child can learn a lot.
• Talks: We can expose the importance of empathy in children in the form of a talk. This can be very enriching, especially for older children with more capacity for reflection. In these talks it is also important that the students participate. In this way, we will get an interaction on your part and a greater active attention in the talk.
• Individual tutorials: Talking personally with children can strengthen the bond between students and teachers. In addition, it is a very suitable guideline to promote empathy, since we are showing the little one the importance of listening and being listened to.

The following activities are intended to apply and work the empathic capacity in a group. They are simple dynamics and are aimed at all ages, but they tend to be more effective for children from 6 to 12 years old. It is advisable to have a facilitator or chaperone adult during the dynamics to check and make sure that everything is going well.

The spiderweb

This dynamic is one of the most used to meet new people. In it, we only need a ball of yarn and the whole group of boys and girls sit in a circle. The facilitator begins, takes the ball, says his name aloud and a characteristic of his that defines him, for example:

• My name is Pablo and I really like to draw.

Next, he takes one end of the thread and randomly passes the ball to a child so that he does the same and so on. At the end of all the presentations, a spider web will have formed between all the children that represents the union between them.

Draw your partner

Another game to work on empathy in children is the following: it consists of each child writing her name on a piece of paper. Subsequently, the facilitator collects all the papers and randomly assigns a name to each child. This will have to draw the partner that has touched him and make a small description of his character next to him. Afterwards, each drawing will be given to the corresponding child.

The main objective of this dynamic is to exercise the ability to represent other people in a role, to define someone's character and check if the other person is reflected in what has been created her.

The shoe game

This is another simple game to exercise the ability to put ourselves in the place of others. It consists of sitting all the children in a circle and making them put on the shoes of the one on their right. In this way, we symbolize the expression of "get in the other's shoes". Then each child will have to answer some questions that the facilitator will ask, but with the condition to respond according to what the child to her right would say (that is, the partner who has lent her the shoes). For example: if the facilitator asks a child what is his favorite color, he will have to answer according to what he thinks his partner would say.

Songs about emotions

A very recurrent activity in this type of dynamics is to learn, together, a song related to emotions. With this, the children practice a group activity and, at the same time, see how others talk about emotions without any problem.

The box of feelings

This dynamic is not exactly a game. It consists of leaving a box with cards next to it for the children to write down the discomforts they have felt throughout the day. At the end of the day, each child will read a random piece of paper and propose a solution or a pleasant comment to alleviate the other person's problem.

These activities combine play with emotional learning. We must remember that the game is the vehicle with which the little ones learn and integrate values that, later on, will serve them in their mature life to be better people and foster better relationships interpersonal.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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