Empathy challenge launched
Empathy Day, a day that celebrates empathy with a range of fun activities, will be marked on 9 June across the UK. Empathy is the ability to share and understand the feelings of others. This year, the Empathy Lab, which organises activities for Empathy Day, is hosting the Empathy Superpower Challenge, which kicks off on 4 May.
The idea is that empathy is a superpower, and the challenge involves nine fun and practical al activities for schools to try in the classroom. After three challenges are completed, students get a digital badge that says “Done”, and after all nine, they will receive a certificate signed by the author Michael Rosen.
The Empathy Superpower Challenge activities include Empathy Walks (walks that encourage you to be empathetic to people around you); writing to a local hero who you think shows a lot of empathy; and putting on superpower X-ray glasses to help you see the world through someone else’s eyes. The idea is to do these activities in the lead-up to Empathy Day itself, on 9 June, when the challenge ends. Rosen will also be at the Empathy Day’s online festival, alongside other authors including Malorie Blackman, Joseph Coelho,
Cressida Cowell, Onjali Q. Raúf, Alex Wheatle and Jacqueline Wilson.
Miranda McKearney, one of Empathy Lab’s founders, told The Week Junior that empathy can help the world become kinder and more welcoming. She said, “Empathy helps combat the hate in the world – it helps us understand each other better and makes us the best version of ourselves we can be.”
Since it was first held in 2017, Empathy Day has helped a lot of young people be more understanding of other people. A Year 7 pupil from Henry Tudor School in Wales said, “Our empathy work has helped us when talking to our friends. We have learned how to express how we feel.”
Empathy Day has also inspired teachers to use fiction books and writing to help students understand other people’s feelings. A Year 2 teacher in Cambridge, England, said, “In my class, exploring empathy, characters and feelings has opened up new kinds of conversations with the children.”
You’ll find more information about the Empathy Day Superpower Challenge and Empathy Day’s online festival on 9 June, and how you can get involved, at tinyurl.com/TWJ-empathy-superpower