Canva Education and Empatico join forces to build a more empathic world

Empathy is an incredibly powerful skill for building strong relationships, communicating effectively and navigating social situations. Teaching empathy in the classroom can help prepare students for the future by equipping them with the skills they need to navigate diverse cultures and communities. That's why we’re excited to announce our partnership with Empatico⁠(opens in a new tab or window), an educational non-profit that aims to foster a more empathetic world. Empatico connects classrooms around the globe through free, virtual pen pal experiences. For this partnership, Canva Education⁠(opens in a new tab or window) designed a collection of high-quality student activities, specifically with Empatico in mind. We’re excited to inspire educators and students to practice empathy and other social-emotional learning skills in a way that promotes joy, creativity, and connection.

Check out the collection of empathy activities⁠(opens in a new tab or window)!

Empathy helps us understand and care about others’ feelings and experiences. When we practice empathy, we’re able to better understand another person’s emotions, think about their situation and experiences, and act in a more compassionate way that’s meaningful to them. Empathy promotes positive relationships, fosters a sense of purpose to help others, reduces conflict and prejudice, and builds individual and community resiliency. Empathy can have a powerful impact on students' lives, both inside and outside the classroom. When students learn empathy, they develop the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, which can help them build positive relationships, navigate social situations, and contribute to a more compassionate and understanding society.

Empatico⁠(opens in a new tab or window) is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a more empathetic world. To do this, Empatico offers classroom resources that develop daily habits centered around empathy, as well as virtual exchange activities that enable meaningful connections among students around the world. To support these virtual exchanges, the Empatico platform also includes video-meeting and classroom-matching capabilities. Any K-12 educator can sign up for a free Empatico account⁠(opens in a new tab or window) to access these resources and technology tools. Imagine how it exciting it is for classrooms to safely connect with others across the globe!

Empatico’s resources are rooted in its Empathy Framework⁠(opens in a new tab or window), a research-based model designed to reinforce nine key social-emotional learning skills. The framework, which draws on research from a range of disciplines, including education, psychology, sociology, conflict resolution, and communication, promotes students’ healthy growth and helps students connect with others, develop a deeper understanding of themselves, others, and the world, and act with compassion.

Here are a few highlights from the collection to check out with your students! These templates can be used as bite-size exercises in the classroom, or as collaborative activities between partner classes to build students’ understanding and appreciation of each other.

1. Self-Care Diary⁠(opens in a new tab or window): record ideas for how you can practice kindness towards yourself and others.

2. Empathetic Responses⁠(opens in a new tab or window): practice feeling, thinking, and acting with empathy in everyday situations.

3. My Identity Wheel⁠(opens in a new tab or window): reflect on, and share, important aspects of your identity.

4. Our Neighborhood⁠(opens in a new tab or window): design a brochure about your community’s unique features and history.

5. Resolving Conflicts⁠(opens in a new tab or window): learn how to disagree with kindness, respect, and curiosity for each other.

6. Through My Eyes⁠(opens in a new tab or window): create a classroom photo gallery that invites people to see the world “through your eyes”.

7. Kindness Chart⁠(opens in a new tab or window): participate in a school-wide challenge to foster a kinder, more positive environment.

Search “Empatico” to find the full collection of empathy templates⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

The Canva Education⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and Empatico⁠(opens in a new tab or window) partnership is an exciting step towards promoting empathy and connection among students around the world. We’re excited to provide educators with the tools and resources they need to teach and foster empathy, and help prepare students for success in school and beyond.

Canva Education⁠(opens in a new tab or window) makes it easy to create, collaborate, and communicate visually in the classroom and beyond. It's 100% free for K-12 districts, schools, teachers, and students. Bring your ideas to life with thousands of high-quality educational templates from presentations, videos, whiteboards, posters, comic strips, book reports, infographics, newsletters and more.