Stuffed Animal Hospital

DESCRIPTION
his is outdoor imaginative group play with clean stuffed animals that adults have advised children have an injury of some sort and have been abandoned. The animals are alone and need children’s help.

BIG IDEAS
  1. Empathy. Humans can imagine others’ feelings.
  2. We can use our ability to empathize to communicate with, care for, comfort, and help others in need.

PURPOSE 
This empathy workshop is called “Matching Hearts” to familiarize children with the Big Ideas outlined above. For storycrafting skills, this workshop develops characterization, plot invention, role playing, conversational listening, and speaking.

ACTIVITY
  • Introduce the children to the abandoned, injured animals.
  • Conduct a story circle to ask each child to name 2 actions people take to show they care.
  • Suggest the children use these ideas to comfort the animal.
  • Begin 15 minutes of free exploration of the “story” of their animal’s injury and how to comfort it. Group or partner work, going for walks, reading, painting, drawing all occur here.
  • Regroup in story circle and take turns relating the story of the animal’s injury and how the child responds with comfort and care.
  • Begin 15 minutes for free drawing and writing to record in the Cozy Caring Diary pictures or words of what worked to comfort and heal the animal.
  • In a final story circle, have each child share their Diary, and frame the experience of their animal’s background, injury, and recovery as a story, relating what happened, in a “Show, Tell, & Ask” format that  starts with: “This is my _________. Its name is ____________.” Guide the group to ask the speaker questions.
  • Write or illustrate caring letters that a child can send to family members as a way to learn how to write and mail letters that communicate concern and empathy.

WRAP-UP RECAP
Ask the children to put their animals in a safe and cozy place to heal as you summarize what the class just did: “Today we helped injured, orphaned animals feel better by imagining how they feel, and by trying to comfort them. That ability to feel others’ feelings and act with concern to help them is called empathy.  Empathy might be a new word for you. It’s a good one. Practice saying it and doing it because empathy is what makes a person or animal feel safe, cared for, and respected among friends, families, and community.”
AGES: Preschool-grade 4
TIME: 1 hour; highly flexible

​MATERIALS NEEDED
  • Clean stuffed animals, one per child if possible
  • Painters’  tape for “casting” broken limbs or binding wounds
  • Old blankets, towels, sweaters, or comfort cloths for swaddling
  • Books for reading aloud to the stuffed animal to comfort it
  • Markers and paper for children to record their ideas and responses for comforting in a Caring Diary