Promoting Respect & Empathy: A Toolkit for Educators, by Educators

Teaching kids empathy and respect prepares them to create a more caring and compassionate world. In the absence of empathy, differences have the potential to breed conflict – especially during a child’s early years, when they are naturally inclined to think only of themselves and their immediate needs. Members of the First Book community of educators know this well, and in their daily work with children and young adults, recognize the responsibility to teach kids the importance of being able to step into the shoes of another, and see the world through their perspective.

To support educators doing this important work in child development, we asked the experts (A.K.A. our First Book community of educators) for their most successful activities, tips, and book recommendations for teaching empathy and respect to kids of all ages. First Book members in urban cities, rural communities, suburban towns, and Native American reservations sent us their best ideas for teaching empathy, and we compiled them all into a downloadable toolkit.

This one-of-a-kind crowdsourced teaching resource is FREE to download from the First Book Marketplace!

Our Promoting Respect & Empathy Toolkit is now available for download on the First Book Marketplace!

We are so impressed with the creativity of our First Book members – whose empathy lesson suggestions include using stories, films, crafts, Youtube videos, daily routines and more.

This project is the third installment in a series of resources sponsored by the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) and First Book to address bias, cultural competence and equity.

It is our hope that in sharing the great work already being done across the First Book member community, every educator we serve will find even more ways and ideas to promote respect and empathy.

Our Respect & Empathy Toolkit for Educators of all Grades can be downloaded directly from the First Book Marketplace’s Free Resource section.


Take a look at our other teacher resources created in partnership with MSEA.

Click here to view more resources on Social Emotional Learning.

Graphic featuring The Pigeon by Mo Willems with text that says, 'Mo & Cher Willems want to double your gift! Give the joy of reading to TWICE as many kids in underserved communities when your gift is matched by the Mo and Cher Willems Foundation, up to $75,000. DON’T miss your chance to make your gift go twice as far!' with a button that says 'Donate now'.