For the 2025 celebration, Empathy Day will be held on June 12, and it promises to continue its tradition of promoting empathy in unique and impactful ways, helping to shape a more caring and emotionally intelligent world.
Empathy Day is an annual event celebrated to highlight the importance of empathy in building stronger, more compassionate communities. The day is organized by various advocacy groups, most notably by Empathy Lab, with the goal of encouraging individuals to understand, share, and care about the feelings of others.
What is Empathy Day?
The main focus of Empathy Day is to help people, especially children, develop emotional intelligence by fostering an awareness of different perspectives. By engaging in storytelling, reading, and sharing experiences, Empathy Day aims to promote kindness, understanding, and support within families, schools, and communities.
On this day, people participate in activities like book readings, workshops, discussions, and events that emphasize empathetic skills. Empathy Lab runs campaigns to help educators integrate empathy-building exercises into school curriculums.
These activities are designed to teach children how to connect with others’ emotions, resolve conflicts, and engage in positive social behaviors.
Empathy Day Festival 2025
A ten-day UK festival from 2-12 June 2025, culminating in Empathy Day itself on 12 June.
This extended national campaign will enable widespread community participation, inspiring children to learn about empathy, put it into action and develop important life skills
This year the festival includes Empathy Challenge activities, a nationwide assembly with Children’s Laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, brilliant authors and illustrators to spark empathy inspiration, webinars focussed on professional development and more! Their really is something for everyone whatever age or stage of child you work with
The power of stories
One of the key aspects of Empathy Day is the power of stories—whether through books, films, or personal anecdotes. Stories enable us to see the world through others’ eyes, which is why this day often involves initiatives such as reading empathy-themed books in schools or libraries and sharing stories of diverse cultures and experiences.
Empathy Day is also an opportunity for people to reflect on how empathy can improve relationships in all areas of life—whether personal, professional, or social. It encourages individuals to create environments where people feel heard and understood, ultimately contributing to a more harmonious society.
For the 2025 celebration, Empathy Day promises to continue its tradition of promoting empathy in unique and impactful ways, helping to shape a more caring and emotionally intelligent world.
My books that foster empathy
How my book”Create Your own Kindness” Fosters Empathy:
“Create Your Own Kindness” is designed to help children understand and practice kindness in their everyday lives. The book encourages kids to explore the concept of kindness, not just toward others but also towards themselves. It teaches children that kindness can be both a feeling and an action, showing them how they can make the world a better place through small acts of goodwill.
Overview of “Create Your Own Kindness”:
- Objective: The goal of the book is to inspire children to develop empathy, compassion, and positive relationships by recognizing the power of kindness. It helps them understand that being kind is not only beneficial to others but also enhances their own well-being.
- Content: The book is filled with engaging stories, activities, and ideas to help children practice kindness in various situations, both at home and in their communities. The book offers practical ways for children to show kindness, from simple gestures like sharing and listening to more complex acts like standing up for others or helping someone in need.
- Themes:
- Self-Kindness: Teaching kids to be kind to themselves, promoting positive self-talk, and the importance of self-care.
- Kindness Toward Others: Offering examples of how small, everyday actions, like complimenting someone or helping a friend, can have a big impact.
- Gratitude: Encouraging children to express thanks and recognize the positive aspects of their lives.
- Activities: The book includes fun activities and challenges that inspire children to put kindness into action. Examples could be creating kindness cards for family members, setting up a “kindness jar,” or drawing pictures of kind acts they want to perform.
Overall, “Create Your Own Kindness” is a heartwarming guide that encourages children to be kind, nurturing, and compassionate, while also teaching them that kindness can be a powerful tool for improving their own emotional well-being and making the world a better place for everyone.
Buy the book here
How my book”How I Feel” Fosters Empathy:
- Understanding and Naming Emotions:
“How I Feel” introduces children to a wide range of emotions, helping them identify and label their own feelings. By learning to recognize emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and excitement, children are more equipped to understand how others might be feeling in similar situations. When children can name their own emotions, they’re better able to recognize these feelings in others, which is a crucial part of developing empathy. - Empathetic Reflection:
The book encourages children to think about how their feelings might affect others. Through relatable stories or scenarios, it shows how one’s emotions—whether positive or negative—can influence interactions with others. This kind of reflection helps children see beyond their own perspective and understand how other people might experience similar feelings. - Relatable Situations:
By using simple, everyday scenarios (such as playing with friends, going to school, or experiencing changes), “How I Feel” creates situations where children can easily relate. This relatability makes it easier for kids to connect with the emotions of the characters or situations described and imagine how they would feel if they were in someone else’s shoes. - Developing Compassion:
As children recognize different emotions and the impact of these feelings on others, the book naturally encourages compassion. It helps children to understand that everyone experiences difficult emotions sometimes, and that responding with kindness and empathy is important. It teaches them how to react with care when someone else is feeling sad, scared, or angry. - Practical Activities and Discussion:
The book includes activities or prompts that invite children to think about their own emotional experiences and how they would like others to respond. These activities help children practice empathy by considering others’ feelings and choosing kind ways to respond. For example, it might encourage children to think about how they can comfort a friend who is feeling sad or how they can celebrate a friend’s happiness.
In short, “How I Feel” fosters empathy by helping children understand their emotions, consider others’ feelings, and develop the emotional tools necessary to be kind, supportive, and compassionate in their interactions. It empowers children to both recognize and manage their own emotions, and to connect with and support the emotional experiences of those around them.
buy the book here
Further reading
Quotes to inspire kids emotional intelligence
