Stand Up/Sit Down

Putting ourselves in others’ shoes helps us to build empathy and perspective-taking skills. One way that we can build empathy is by noticing when people have interests and opinions that are similar to or different from our own. When we build empathy, we are better able to connect, understand, and relate to others.

1. Provide students with prompts that ask them to make a choice between two options and then stand up or sit down to represent their choice (e.g., If you like ___, stand up. If you feel ___, sit down. If you want to ___, stand up.). Example prompts:

• If you like dogs
• If you feel excited
• If you like watching soccer
• If you want to be a writer when you grow up

2. Encourage them to notice how their opinions are similar to and/or different from others and to ask questions to better understand why someone chose a certain answer. (e.g., “Find someone who had a similar/different answer than you and share with each other why you feel that way.”)

• Did you learn anything new about yourself or your classmates during this activity? Did anything surprise you?
• What are other strategies we can use to learn more about other people’s opinions and perspectives? What are some questions we might ask?
• In what situations do you want to empathize with others?

For primary school students:

• Ask students to think about and create a list of statement to play in teams and try them out as a class. You can also change the format of the game: in pairs, threes, teams, or as a whole class.
• Offer different options for movement, for example, raising their hands or lifting soft toys.

For students in grades 5-6:

• Adapt the activity to include events from literary works, historical facts, or experiments and research from the grade-level content. Ask students to explain which emotions they feel about different events.