It is that time again when the Shelf Care Club releases a new eBook for free! Make sure you are signed up, so you can join in the fun and get access to We’ve Got This, our July book which includes loads of empathy activities and information about empathy teaching for parents, and classrooms everywhere.
Don’t forget to check out the giveaways for the club this month too, will you? We’ve got a special one from DK Books for the kids this month. Don’t forget if you join the Shelf Care Club you also get 6-weeks free trial with Readly, as some amazing freebies from Zimpli Kids, and Thats Okay too.
This month is a little different to the other month’s because the book itself is FULL of activities and ideas for the kids, so we haven’t had to create a set of activity sheets this time around. We HAVE given you a few colouring pages from the book, but that’s all we have because the book itself is such an amazing resource for understanding and building empathy. If we gave you more, all your heads might explode 😂
What is We’ve Got This about
“We’ve Got This!” is a brilliantly crafted book, published through a partnership between EmpathyLab and Quarto Kids. Written by Rashmi Sirdeshpande, this book is designed to help children harness their empathy and grow their emotional intelligence.
The book, all 66 pages of it (!), takes young readers on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment. It introduces the concept of empathy, explaining what it is, how it works, and why it’s so important. It then sets out six simple steps to help kids build their “empathy superpower”. These steps are easy to understand, practical, and designed to be incorporated into everyday life.
The engaging chapters delve into various aspects of empathy, providing children with the tools they need to navigate their emotions and relate to those around them. The lessons learned from this book are not just for the moment but are skills that will serve children well throughout their lives.
“We’ve Got This!” goes beyond simply defining empathy. It provides real-world examples and activities that encourage children to practice empathy in their daily interactions. This hands-on approach helps children to understand and embrace their empathy superpower, enabling them to develop resilience to cope with life’s ups and downs.
In essence, “We’ve Got This!” is more than just a book – it’s an essential guide for children, teaching them about empathy, emotional intelligence, and the power they have to make a positive impact on the world around them.
Our colouring sheets for this month
There are three colouring pages within this set for you. The cover of the book, a little design your own dog walker, and finally the You Did it page for when the children and you have completed all the six chapters.
Hopefully at the end of it, you can write a little reflection within the space on the final colouring page. Why not write how you feel at the start of your empathy journal before you look at the book and then again when you have finished. Let us know how you have found to book, and share both of your thoughts with us on our socials, copying @kiddycharts, @quartokids and @empathylab, so we can see what you have been up to! #WeveGotThis.
Don’t forget to sign up – so you can get the full eBook as well, of course.
Let us know how you get on with it too. We love this book as a tool for both parents and teachers. To help you out though, to understand what empathy is, and how important it is for kids, we have a few ideas for you to think about alongside the book.
What is empathy?
Empathy involves being able to put oneself in another person’s shoes and understand their emotions and perspectives. It is not about agreeing with the other person or feeling sorry for them, but about understanding their feelings and experiences from their point of view.
It is a key skill for counsellors and those within the community helping professions, and everyone else. Being able to empathise with other people and other children is a really important skill to develop from a young age. It helps our children, and us understand how those around us are feeling, but it also encourages us to develop our own coping skills too.
Why is empathy so important for children?
Here are five reasons why it is really helpful for kids to build empathy from a young age:
- Improved social skills: Empathy enables children to better understand the feelings and needs of others, which can enhance their ability to communicate and interact socially. For example, if they see a child alone in the playground, they understand that they may feel lonely, and look to help them,
- Better emotional regulation: By understanding their own emotions through empathy, children can learn to manage their feelings more effectively. This is particularly important with those that struggle with emotional disregulation, for example those with sensory issues, or ADHD,
- Reduced bullying: Empathetic children are less likely to engage in bullying behaviour, as they can imagine how it feels to be on the receiving end,
- Increased kindness: Empathy encourages kindness and compassion, as children who understand others’ feelings are more likely to want to help them. The first step to being compassionate to ourselves, is understanding it, and showing it to others. Self compassion is a very important part of developing positive mental health habits, and finally
- Better conflict resolution: With empathy, children can see beyond their own viewpoint, allowing them to solve conflicts in a more fair and peaceful way. Empathy helps us to not make the solutions all about us, which can result in a more rounded approach to finding those solutions.
And all the above is why we are sharing this book with you! If you are looking for other everyday ideas though, check these out as well:
Empathy activities to do everyday
It doesn’t hurt to have more in your empathy locker than the We’ve Got This book. Here are some more ideas for empathy activities that you can do everyday for teaching empathy:
- Practicing active listening: Encouraging children to listen carefully to others, paying attention not just to the words, but also to the emotions behind them. Try not to slip into the – yes that happened to me, and I felt like this, but listen to how the person speaking is feeling,
- Playing perspective-taking games: Games such as role-play can help children practice seeing things from different perspectives. If you were the teacher, and this happened, how do you think you might feel?
- Volunteering within the community: Helping others can teach children about empathy by giving them firsthand experience of other people’s situations and feelings,
- Reading stories with empathetic characters: Books can provide powerful examples of empathy in action. Discuss the characters’ feelings and actions to deepen children’s understanding. EmpathyLab has some amazing resources here, and we also have a wealth of resources around this in our booklists too,
- Encouraging emotional expression: Allow children to express their own emotions, and validate their feelings. This can help them become more attuned to their own and others’ emotions, and develop resilience. Naming our emotions helps to give us more power over them.
As you can see, there are things we can do everyday to encourage empathy. We do hope you like this book, and the bookclub too.
See you again, very, very soon.
Helen
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!