The School of Play Curriculum
Primary School Grade 3 & 4
Week Twenty Eight invites students into the emotional world of empathy, guided by the gentle wisdom of Neptune and its swirling, reflective skies. Through role-play, creative crafting, mindful movement, and expressive art, children learn how to imagine the feelings of others and respond with kindness. Walk in Their Space Boots helps students practise stepping into someone else’s perspective, learning to listen, understand, and offer caring words. Heart Glasses Craft encourages students to “see with kindness,” creating wearable symbols that remind them to look at others with empathy, softness, and imagination.
Mirror Me strengthens non-verbal empathy through focused, mindful movement, showing students that compassion isn’t always spoken; it can be felt through presence and attention. Caring Boots brings the week together by inviting students to reflect on the kind actions they can take and symbolise these through decorated “empathy boots.” Each activity builds social awareness, emotional depth, and compassionate thinking. This week teaches students, just like Neptune taught the Playful Astronaut, that empathy is a superpower, one that helps us understand others, respond gently, and make our classroom a kinder and more connected place.
Weekly Lessons
Walk in Their Space Boots
Walk in Their Space Boots invites students to gently and playfully explore the world through someone else’s eyes. By stepping into different shoes, literally or imaginatively, children practise the powerful skill of empathy. They learn that everyone has different feelings, experiences, and challenges, and that understanding these helps us become kinder friends and classmates. As students role-play simple everyday scenarios, they practise naming emotions, expressing care, and responding with compassion. Just like Neptune, where feelings run deep beneath the swirling surface, this activity teaches children that emotions can be complex, and empathy helps us navigate them with sensitivity and understanding.
Through turn-taking, listening, and imaginative play, students experience how meaningful it is to be seen and supported by others. When they switch roles and respond to each other’s pretend situations with kindness, they strengthen social bonds and emotional literacy. Group reflection helps students connect the learning to real life, recognising moments when listening, helping, or offering comfort can make a big difference. Walk in Their Space Boots nurtures a classroom culture of care, showing students that empathy is not only about pretending, it’s about paying attention, being gentle, and understanding that everyone carries feelings that matter.
Respectful Relationships
Communication and Empathy
Walk in Their Space Boots supports students to:
- Think about how someone else might be feeling, helping them build empathy and emotional understanding.
- Listen carefully as a partner shares imagined feelings or scenarios, practising respectful and attentive communication.
- Use kind, supportive words in response to others, showing understanding and compassion.
Cooperation and Social Skills
Walk in Their Space Boots helps students to:
- Take turns stepping into different roles and sharing ideas, promoting cooperation and positive social interaction.
- Work respectfully in pairs or small groups as they explore different emotional perspectives together.
- Strengthen friendships by offering support and recognising how different people experience different feelings.
Safety and Acceptance
Walk in Their Space Boots encourages students to:
- Feel safe sharing emotions or imagined scenarios, knowing their ideas will be accepted without judgment.
- Appreciate and accept that everyone experiences feelings differently, promoting inclusion and emotional safety.
- Create a caring classroom culture where empathy is valued, and students feel comfortable expressing how they feel.
Heart Glasses Craft
Heart Glasses Craft gives students a tangible and imaginative way to explore empathy. By designing and decorating their own glasses with heart-shaped lenses, children learn that kindness begins with how we choose to see the world. Wearing their creations, students step into the role of caring astronauts who look beneath the surface, just like on Neptune, where deep swirling emotions remind us that everyone has feelings we may not always see. As they craft and personalise their glasses, students practise noticing what kindness looks like, sounds like, and feels like, strengthening both creativity and emotional understanding through play.
Once the glasses are complete, students bring empathy to life by wearing them and imagining how others might feel. Whether offering a gentle compliment, inviting someone to play, or simply noticing when a friend needs support, children learn that kindness grows when we look at others with open hearts. The activity encourages deep reflection and joyful role-play, turning empathy into something active and visible. Heart Glasses Craft helps build a classroom culture where students learn that understanding others starts with intention, choosing to see their world through kindness, compassion, and care.
Respectful Relationships
Communication and Empathy
Heart Glasses Craft supports students to:
- Think about how others might be feeling and practise “seeing with kindness.”
- Use imaginative play to explore empathy by pretending to view the world through caring eyes.
- Develop emotional language by talking about what it means to understand and care for others.
Cooperation and Social Skills
Heart Glasses Craft helps students to:
- Interact with peers kindly while wearing their heart glasses, offering compliments or checking in on others.
- Practise gentle communication by noticing and responding to peers' emotions during role-play.
- Build a classroom culture of kindness by treating others with care and understanding.
Safety and Acceptance
Heart Glasses Craft encourages students to:
- Feel safe expressing caring thoughts and ideas through art and imaginative play.
- Embrace a classroom environment where kindness and empathy are valued and celebrated.
- Understand that everyone’s feelings matter, promoting emotional safety and respectful behaviour.
Mirror Me
Mirror Me is a gentle, connection-building activity that invites students to slow down and truly notice one another. Working in pairs, children take turns leading simple movements while their partner mirrors them like a reflection. This quiet exchange encourages focus, presence, and non-verbal communication, helping students tune into the feelings and intentions behind someone else’s movements. The calm, steady rhythm of the activity reflects the soft blue atmosphere of Neptune, where the Playful Astronauts learn that empathy begins with paying attention to others with curiosity and care.
As students swap roles, they experience both leading and following, building trust and mutual respect. Every mirrored stretch, wave, or gentle expression strengthens awareness of others and fosters emotional understanding. The joy of Mirror Me lies in its simplicity, two students moving together, learning to support, match, and connect without words. It becomes a safe space for students to practise empathy through movement, reminding them that kindness often shows up in small, quiet moments of tuning in to the people around us.
Respectful Relationships
Communication and Empathy
Mirror Me supports students to:
- Use their eyes and attention to understand a partner’s movements and feelings.
- Practise non-verbal communication by copying gentle actions with care and focus.
- Tune into another person’s energy, helping them develop empathy through mindful mirroring.
Cooperation and Social Skills
Mirror Me helps students to:
- Work cooperatively in pairs by taking turns as leader and follower.
- Move slowly and kindly to make the activity enjoyable for their partner.
- Develop respect and trust as they learn from one another during role swaps.
Safety and Acceptance
Mirror Me encourages students to:
- Create a safe, calm atmosphere where everyone can participate at their own pace.
- Accept and appreciate the different ways peers move, express themselves, and lead.
- Build emotional safety by showing care, gentleness, and presence with a partner.
Caring Boots
Caring Boots is a beautifully reflective activity that helps students understand empathy by imagining what it feels like to walk kindly through the world. By tracing and decorating the outlines of their own feet or shoes, students create their very own pair of ‘empathy boots’, boots that remind them to take caring steps each day. As they fill their boots with drawings or words that represent kind actions, children explore what it means to notice other people’s feelings, offer help, and move gently through shared spaces. Inspired by Neptune’s deep emotional wisdom, this activity invites students to slow down, think deeply, and recognise the powerful impact their choices can have on others.
Through discussion and sharing, students learn that empathy is something they can practise with every step: comforting a friend, sharing a toy, listening to someone who feels sad, or offering a smile. When their Caring Boots are displayed together, they create a collective ‘Walk of Kindness’ that celebrates empathy as a class value. Simple, creative, and meaningful, this activity helps children understand that caring for others is not only something we feel, but something we do, one thoughtful footstep at a time.
Respectful Relationships
Communication and Empathy
Caring Boots supports students to:
- Imagine what it feels like to “walk in someone else’s shoes,” building emotional understanding and empathy.
- Express caring thoughts through drawings or words that show how they can help others.
- Talk about what it means to wear their “empathy boots,” strengthening perspective-taking and compassionate communication.
Cooperation and Social Skills
Caring Boots helps students to:
- Practise kindness by identifying caring actions they can take to support classmates, friends, and family.
- Listen respectfully as peers share their ideas, celebrating different ways people choose to show care.
- Strengthen social connection by contributing their “boots” to a shared display, creating a class culture of kindness.
Safety and Acceptance
Caring Boots encourages students to:
- Recognise that everyone deserves kindness, understanding, and support, especially when they are struggling.
- Create a safe and accepting classroom environment by thinking about actions that help others feel valued and included.
- Appreciate that caring looks different for everyone, and that all thoughtful acts big or small make others feel safe and supported.
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