Empower Empathy is an innovative board game designed to teach children the crucial life skill of empathy. Set in the imaginative city of Empathropolis™, players work together to defeat the villain Goobi by developing emotional awareness and empathy. Combining storytelling, social-emotional development, and language, this collaborative game gives children skills and confidence to navigate different situations.
Players move around the game-board and solve various social dilemmas depending on their role and the chosen scenario card. The variety of social scenarios presented were a good mix of positive, negative, and in between feelings. For instance:
- Warren holds the door open for the people behind him
- The huge dog down the street always barks at Timmy whenever he walks by
- Liam broke the neighbor’s window with his baseball, and he needs to go apologize for it
- Frankie’s little baby sister has torn up his art work
- Jim walks out of the restroom with a long piece of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his shoe
The player assess each scenario via Think — Feel — Act, and selects 3 emotion cards that are applicable. The inside cover of the game box provides prompts that guide responses.
- Think: What do you think happened? Has this happened to you before? Why did it happen?
- Feel: How did it the person feel? Why did it make him/her feel this way? How might you feel if this happened to you?
- Act: Do you think this person handled the situation well? If it happened to you, what would you do?
The emotion cards contain complex emotions beyond the basic emotions (happy, sad, angry, scared, disgust, surprise). More in depth feelings such as thankful, thoughtful, proud, frustrated, unkind, worried, and absent-minded. Selecting 3 emotions for each situation proved that many feelings can happen simultaneously, which sparked good conversation and reasoning skills.
The game is designed for cooperative play, encouraging teamwork and collective problem-solving. As players adopt a superhero persona with empathetic superpowers, such as active listening, perspective-taking, and compassionate communication, they’re learning too. They’re practicing critical skills like identifying and naming emotions of their own and others. They’re learning perspective-taking to see situations from various viewpoints. And they’re practicing active listening without judgment too.
Empower Empathy reinforces the idea that social dilemmas can be resolved through understanding and empathy. They learn to approach conflicts with a positive mindset, understanding that challenges are opportunities for growth. The guided discussions and prompts help children verbalize their thoughts and feelings. It’s education and effective in equipping our children with the tools they need to build a kinder, more understanding world.
Available at Tiny Sprouts
