Emotions and Empathy

As early as first grade, students learn to identify feelings and emotions expressed by others. They look to see if a person’s eyes are teary, if their cheeks are flushed, or how their eyes or mouth look. These clues help students to recognize emotions, the first step in the path toward empathy. Once students can do this, they begin to move towards understanding how someone feels and care about their feelings. They use their experience to recall how someone might feel at that moment.

Practice Identifying the Feelings and Emotions of Others

How well can your students recognize and understand the verbal and nonverbal cues of others? Are they able to identify the feelings and perspectives of others? You have come to the right place if they need additional practice with this skill! Teach Starter has created an interactive game for primary students. With this activity, students are guided through 20 questions and simple scenarios. Students must pick out the person who is demonstrating a particular emotion. Not only will they be able to choose a character that shows being scared, confused, or unhappy, but students will be able to determine which person is nervous to read to the class or is struggling to tie their shoes based on their nonverbal cues. 

Easily Prepare This SEL Game for Your Students

Are you ready for your students to practice identifying emotions and how others feel? Simply click on the green download button to access this resource’s interactive Google Slides version. To play the game, guide students to open the slideshow in presentation mode. Each answer is linked to the appropriate page, showing whether the student is correct or incorrect.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and a Teach Starter Collaborator. 

Looking for More SEL Printables?

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more activities and resources that cut down on lesson planning time:  

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Emotions Worksheet Pack

Help students understand different emotions with this set of five emotions worksheets.

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Characteristics of Emotions - Poster Set

Learn the facial expressions and body cues that accompany the most common emotional states with this poster set.

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'Ways To Show Empathy' Poster and Worksheet

Use this printable empathy for kids poster and worksheet to teach your students how to share the feelings of others.