Compassionate Games to Play at Home With Kids

There’s a lot going on right now, and having kids home from school and quarantined can be challenging. From figuring out how to homeschool them to finding ways for them to get their physical and creative energy out and flowing, parents are under a lot of pressure.

These easy games are perfect for keeping your children entertained at home, helping them learn more about other animals, and getting them to flex those empathy muscles.

Alphabet Games

Use these animal alphabet cards in a guessing game! Read the interesting facts aloud and have your children guess which animal you’re talking about. To make it easier, let them know what letter the animal’s name starts with. You could print two sets of the cards and use them in your own animal-friendly memory game, too.

Empathy Game With Dice

For this game, you’ll use our Q&A flashcards and a pair of dice. Assign each of the four animals on the flashcards—fish, chickens, pigs, and cows—three numbers between your pair of dice. (For example, fish could be 3, 5, and 10; chickens could be 2, 4, and 7; and so on.) Then take turns rolling the dice. Depending on which numbers the player rolls, they’ll answer questions about a certain animal—like Do fish have teeth? or Can cows jump over a fence? You can keep score and give a point for each question answered correctly.

Scavenger Hunt

For this hunt, all you need are items your kids can find in the house and a pen and paper to make a list. Your list could include vegan items you keep in your freezer, cruelty-free products in your bathroom, or animal-friendly winter boots in your closet. Write down the items and have your kids find them. To challenge older kids, try describing the items you want them to find rather than naming them.

Personality Quiz

Is your child more like a rat, a dog, an elephant, a chicken, or a deer? Find out with this fun personality quiz! Have your kids answer the five questions to find out which animal they’re most like, then have them fill out a nameplate with their animal to put on a notebook or their bedroom door for the rest of the family to see!

Empathy Ball

Take an inflated beach ball and write questions all over it that would encourage your child to think compassionately about animals. (Find inspiration here.) Once the ball is covered with questions, play the chorus of a song or set a timer for 10 seconds as you toss it back and forth to one another. When the chorus ends or the timer goes off, the person left holding the ball has to answer the question closest to or under their right thumb. If more than two people are playing, the ball could be passed randomly or you could go in a circle.

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It’s always a good time to teach kids to show kindness to all! Continue fostering empathy in them—with these virtual teaching resources from TeachKind.