Empathy Artists

Empathy Artists

How to:  

Use our Empathy Shorts – short stories written by leading authors – to spark creative responses. Explore the Empathy Shorts here – they cover primary and secondary ages.   

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For younger children

• think carefully about the world of one particular character. Try drawing or making what they can see – use a shoebox to make a model of their bedroom or draw what they see out of their window 
• take key moments in the story – particularly moments of crisis or action – and create a freeze frame to show what is happening and how characters are feeling. Explore different body language to show feelings – how can we understand how they feel without using any words?  
• take a moment in a story and turn it into a giant mural – different classes can make elements separately across the festival, and then put it all together for the big reveal on Empathy Day    

For older children and young people

• focusing on one character, make a film from their perspective – try creating their journey to or from home using a phone camera. What happens if you do this with different characters in the story? Compare and contrast 
• recreate the story as a play or film. Identify key moments of change in the story, make freeze frames to show these moments. Now add any action and dialogue needed to the freeze frame and think about what narration or action links the frames together. Try working in groups of 4 and watch each other’s versions of the same story to see the differences
• taking the perspective of one particular character, write a diary entry, letter, or series of text messages from their point of view  
• write a song or poem inspired by the story. Start by creating a mind map of the different emotions in the story, and ways to describe those emotions 
• use the stories simply as inspiration for writing your own empathy short. Discuss what makes our Empathy Shorts successful and try exploring some of the techniques identified in your own writing