Sensitivity to Other People – Character Development

It is important to teach our kids to be sensitive to other people. They need to learn to read body language and then be able to respond based on that body language. Last year we taught the kids how to read facial expressions. We also taught them how to pay attention to tone of voice. You can look back under the sensitivity tab under character development to find more activities for this character quality. Today we piggy backed on those activities and concepts to be able to teach more about sensitivity. I want my kids to assess situations well and be able to become a light…a joy…a help.

I printed out situations where people seemed sad or needing help. I made you a printable so you can easily print it out to do the activity with your own kids. Don’t want to waste ink or paper? Just search for your own images online. You can keep your tabs open and have the kids click through them to see the scenarios.

I printed out the sheet of people experiencing different emotions. I put these in a bag. They took turns grabbing them out and telling everyone what they thought that person was experiencing. After identifying the emotion and situation, I had the kids take it a step farther to ask what they could do to help. They gave their ideas, and I added in a few of my own. We talked about what they feel like when they experience different things in life. I wanted them to really internalize empathy and be able to be more sensitive to the needs we see around us. We can all get so caught up in our own little worlds. To be able to get outside ourselves and really identify with the emotions of others is really healthy. I have a post coming up about how important it is to teach kids to recognize emotions. It’s one of the greatest tools we can give them.