Empathy Day

Resource type: Event

Price band: Free

Key stage: KS1, KS2, KS3

Region(s): All of UK

Empathy Day is a day dedicated to celebrating the importance of empathy and the vital role that books and reading play in helping young people develop key empathy skills. It is designed to inspire children and young people to learn more about empathy, build their empathy skills and put them into action to help build a kinder, less divided world. Empathy Day 2024 will take place on Thursday 6th June.

Schools can get involved by:

Downloading the free teacher toolkits for EYFS, Primary and Secondary.
Taking part in the Empathy Day Challenges and encouraging pupils to set their own Empathy Resolution.
Joining in with Empathy Day Live! – a festival of online events with leading authors and illustrators.
Exploring the annual Read for Empathy Book Collection – a collection of 65 titles for 3-16 year-olds chosen by children’s book experts.

Cost: Free with registration.

About EmpathyLab: EmpathyLab was founded in 2014 by Miranda McKearney OBE, Sarah Mears MBE, Craig Hill and Caroline Scott. Its aim is to develop children’s empathy and social activism through stories in order to build a more caring world.

Further resources:

Sign up for one of the two CPD webinars on 18th and 25th April for strategies and tips to Maximise the Impact of Empathy Day in your setting.
Watch the recordings of two CPD events exploring the connection between reading and empathy. Reading and Empathy in Scottish Education featured experts from EmpathyLab, Scottish Book Trust, Strathclyde University and author Maisie Chan, while Reading for Pleasure and Empathy was organised by EmpathyLab and World Book Day.
Catch up on a recording of award-winning author SF Said and fellow guests Tom Percival, Nicola Davies, Polly Ho Yen and Stewart Foster as they talk about the importance of empathy in their books in an empathy-themed Mr Dilly Meets author event for KS2 pupils.
Empathy Action Month in November is an opportunity for schools and libraries to focus on putting empathy into action, revisiting the empathy resolutions set during Empathy Day.
Put empathy into action by running a Readathon sponsored read that will raise money to provide books and storytelling events for seriously ill children in hospital while also promoting reading for pleasure.
Other events in the literacy calendar that provide an opportunity to explore empathy further include Empathy Week, World Kindness Day, Anti-Bullying Week, Children’s Mental Health Week and A Day of Welcome.