Empathy Task Cards and Worksheets

About this resource

Empathy task cards and worksheets for grades 2-5. Each card is a short, everyday moment written in words. The student notices how someone might feel, then writes or says what they could do to help. Worksheets with room to write, a word helper, a worked example and a log turn it into something you can use all week.

EVERYTHING INSIDE — 33 pages

• 24 text scenario task cards in 3 sets of 8 (Notice Feelings; Help a Friend; Kind Words and Actions), cut apart 2 across and 4 down so each cut is one straight line. 8 of the 24 ask a different question, such as why a kind act was kind or who the student could thank
• Try One Together: a worked moment, step by step, with an invented character
• My Word Helper: 16 feeling words and 8 kind things to say, in 3 groups, plus two sentence starters
• How Might They Feel? 3 pages, 6 moments: circle a feeling, then write how I could help
• Notice It: 3 short clue puzzles
• Pick a Kind Response: 2 pages, 4 moments, three responses to read and circle, then why and the student's own kind idea
• Make My Own Moment: the student writes a moment where someone needs a kind friend, how they might feel and how to help
• My Card Answers: a 6-row answer sheet for the task cards
• 8 blank task cards for the student's own moments
• My Kind Check: 15 circles (5 days, 3 times a day) to color
• A how-to page and 2 pages of ideas you might hear for all 24 cards
• An Empathy Log (20 rows: date, when, card number, feeling named Y/N, help idea named Y/N, initials)
• A weekly roll-up (8 weeks) with a percent graph
• A filled example: an invented student, one week on the log, three weeks on the roll-up and the cards used by set
• A family page with 6 small cards to cut apart and a note home
• A hand-off page so a paraprofessional or another classroom uses the same cards the same way
• A phrase bank: 23 lines in 6 groups (spoken lines for the cards, written starters for the log, the roll-up and the note home)
• A storage and binder label sheet: 12 labels and a spine strip
• Start Here, a contents page that maps every page, and a "what's next" back page

The Task Cards

Moments like a friend picked last for a team, a zipper that will not close when the bus is here, a lost library book, a thank you to the lunch helper, a note left in a cubby. Every card is words, so the student reads the clues in the moment and thinks about the other person. Every character is invented. Every moment is an everyday school, friend or home one.

The Worksheets

Every student page has a "My name" line, one short instruction with a picture, big rounded words, and room to circle, color or write. 13 worksheet moments in all (6 feeling, 4 kind-response, 3 clue puzzles).

What This Is, And What It Is Not

It is a fillable PDF: type into the name lines, the writing lines, the log, the roll-up, the family page, the hand-off page and the blank cards, or print and use a pen. It works offline with no account or subscription. It is NOT an editable online slideshow or word-processor document.

Who This Is For

Teachers, counselors, special education teachers and paraprofessionals who want short, concrete empathy practice for grades 2-5, and the families who get the home page.

More In The Collection

This set is in the Visual Supports Collection, alongside Bullying Prevention: Kind vs Unkind Picture Story and Speak Up Cards, Bucket Filler: Kind Acts Picture Story Cards and Bucket Tracker, and Self Control Worksheets. Free to try first: Visual Supports Starter Set FREE.

Pictures: Noto Emoji by Google, Apache License 2.0.