SEL Empathy Activities – 12-Page Unit

Define empathy as noticing how someone feels and trying to help them feel better

Identify a character's or classmate's emotion from a described or illustrated scenario

Practice an empathetic verbal response using a sentence frame such as 'Are you ok?'

Role-play a classroom scenario as both the person with the feeling and the empathetic responder

Use the Empathy Act partner activity as a warm-up before assigning the illustrated scenario cards, since both use the same acting-out-and-guessing structure

Send the caregiver letter home at the start of the unit so families can reinforce the same read-aloud books discussed in class

Draw extra scenarios from real situations observed in your own classroom rather than relying only on the provided list, as the teacher page itself suggests

Assign the repeated sentence-frame pages ('My friend is sad/mad/lonely/happy') across separate days, one emotion at a time, since they are otherwise identical in format

Emotion identification — students name how a classmate or character feels from a described or illustrated scenario, such as a student who lost a favourite pencil.

Empathetic response practice — students read modelled responses for sad, mad, lonely and happy friends, then discuss what they could say.

Character discussion — students discuss feelings and empathetic actions in the suggested read-alouds.