Students play Kind Words Echo — repeating compliments back in calm, loud, and silly voices — then write or draw a compliment for a classmate or family member on a Compliment Card to give away.

Students play Shoe Shuffle — removing one shoe, mixing them in the center, then guessing whose shoe they picked up and discussing similarities and differences with that person — then decorate a shoe outline with personal clues (favorite color, something they like, and what makes them feel happy or calm).

Students play Emotion Freeze Dance — dancing freely until the music stops, then freezing in a full-body pose matching the feeling called out — then color a Feelings Wheel, choosing their own color for each emotion section (happy, sad, mad, scared, tired, silly).

Students play Feelings Face Shuffle — making the facial expression that matches each emotion called out (happy, sad, surprised, scared, etc.) — then look at 4–6 pictures of children and discuss what feeling each child is showing and what might help them.

Students move around the room to find classmates who share the same answer to each statement (same breakfast, shoe size, favorite food, etc.), cluster together, and act out a mime representing their group before the next statement is called.

Students will explore different types of greeting cards and then design and write their own to build a class card collection, practicing empathy by thinking about how to acknowledge and respond to others' experiences through words and art.

Recognize the feelings and perspectives of others, and role-play and brainstorm ways to respond to people depending on how they’re feeling.

Students will write a bullying problem on an inflated balloon, brainstorm solutions, and release the balloon when the class agrees on a good solution — symbolically "deflating the bully." Through this activity, students practice empathy and critical thinking to develop strategies for standing up for themselves and others.

To introduce the concept of doing a good job by yourself and in a team, and to have participants explore ways they can be helpful to each other and their communities.

Students must navigate an obstacle course that represents a cave full of sleeping dragons. One student at a time is blindfolded and given the mission of getting to the treasure at the end of the cave. All the other students become Empathy Magicians who use their powers to stand in the shoes of the blindfolded adventurer who they help to avoid the Sleeping Dragons.

Using Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches as a starting point, students explore what it feels like to be left out, how groups create “in” and “out” categories, and how to build fairer practices in their own community.

Students will read short stories about characters who lack empathy, identify how each character could have responded more understandingly, then rewrite one story to show what empathy in action looks like.

In this lesson, students explore the ways people with a critical health condition or disease might feel, as well as ways they can support and show compassion toward those who are living with an illness.

Unity Day is a national day when students, teachers, and families wear orange to show they support bullying prevention. In this activity, students explore what unity means and collaborate in pairs on posters that show how working together can help stop bullying. Posters are then hung throughout the school.

Students will write their own definition of support, then collaborate in small groups and a gallery walk to build a shared class vision of what supportive behavior looks like — which gets posted in the room as an ongoing reference.

Students reflect on what happiness means to them individually and collectively, then collaborate to create a shared classroom vision of happiness.

Students practice empathy by noticing when others need encouragement and offering kindness through symbolic “happy faces.”

Students practice empathy by guiding a blindfolded peer through a “cave” of obstacles using only one direction each, learning to see from another’s perspective.

Students explore the concepts of community, activism, and art through discussion and creative collaboration, discovering how art can be a tool for change.

A movement and reflection-based activity where students explore and express emotions through body language, facial expressions, and creative drawing.