Pupils foster the human superpower of empathy with origami hearts, biscuit decorating and books
Last week, students at Inscape House School, where we support young people on the autism spectrum, spent Thursday morning marking this year's Empathy Day, 8 June.
The event, mentored by the school's librarian, Jenna-May Griffiths, gave students the opportunity to take part in a range of empathy-building activities hosted by their peers. Students completed illustrator Rob Biddulph’s live draw-along, made origami hearts with supportive messages, designed empathy resolution bunting, completed an empathy wordsearch and enjoyed fun colouring tasks.
One of the seven student-led stalls was that of Amy and Amber, who encouraged the attendees to decorate biscuits with a facial expression of their choice.
"Before eating their decorated biscuit or wrapping it up for someone else, we thought it would be interesting to ask the students to think of a book character that feels the same emotion as the biscuit face in the story", explains Amy, Year 8.
A similar idea had planned Alice, whose activity challenged students to decorate a gingerbread man as a book character but also come up with a story about him/her and write down how they think the character feels in it.
"I really love this activity. I decorated one, along with other sweets, for one of my teachers", says Alice, Year 8.
Our resident book lover Talia, Year 12, took the chance to run a book stall and bring a selection of titles which she believes inspire empathy. 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief', 'The Last Spell Breather', 'Oliver 'Twist', 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' were just a few. About the last one, Talia shares:
Last but not least, everyone who came along was invited to a cup of tea/coffee/juice provided by one of our Bridge College learners, Joe.
What is Empathy Day?
Empathy Day was introduced by Empathy Lab. It is a focal point for celebrating and growing empathy's power to create a better world. It aims to develop an understanding of the role of books in raising an empathy-educated generation. This year's theme is 'Mission Empathy' and aims to inspire children and young people to learn more about empathy, have transformational experiences through stories, and put compassion into action.