Empathy Day 2019
On June 11 2019, thousands of people across the country took part in Empathy Day, as well as our new partners - the Scouts, the Jewish Museum, Hopster TV, and the first Youth Offending Institute. From sharing empathy boosting books to empathy resolutions, podcasts, school activities, and our flagship event, The Empathy Conversation, we loved seeing all the different ways people participated.
Schools
Across the country, our Pioneer Schools were busy bringing their year-round EmpathyLab work to a head, with author visits, Empathy Award presentations and many children putting empathy into action by visiting care homes, meeting with asylum seekers and class visits to libraries with questions for empathy conversation groups.
We also offered free toolkits for new schools wanting to take part, with our new Primary Premium Toolkit containing a comprehensive range of expert resources including 4 assembly outlines and classroom activities to build perspective-taking and emotional vocabulary. The briefings and resources in the pack enabled staff to teach empathy through book work and the creative resources ensured that it was a fun and inspiring experience for all pupils.
An Early Years Toolkit was also available, dedicated to rhyme and story time activities designed to help young children see the world through the eyes of others and develop a language for emotions. The pack was supported by Andersen Press in celebration of Elmer’s 30th birthday.
Libraries
Over 100 library services ran Empathy Day activities, from
Elmer the Elephant empathy-themed events for young children, to inter-generational meet-ups with Empathy Conversation events, bringing different community groups together to connect and talk at a deeper level.
The Empathy Conversation
Our flagship Empathy Day event, The Empathy Conversation, was held at Waterstones, Piccadilly, London, showcasing a wonderful cross-disciplinary panel including author Malorie Blackman, poet Joseph Coelho and Professor Robin Banerjee from the University of Sussex’s Psychology Department.
The evening was spent exploring how stories and poetry can help young people understand others’ feelings and perspectives, and why this is so key for their life chances, with the discussion chaired by
Nicolette Jones, Children's Book editor of
The Sunday Times.
Resources
Explore all the different activities from Empathy Day 2019 by clicking the buttons below:
Feeling inspired?
Find and share empathy-boosting books and join in our massive social media campaign #ReadforEmpathy. Use our
ReadforEmpathy cards and tweet us a book selfie.