Games and apps that foster empathy and understanding
Get tips for games and apps that generate compassion and increase awareness on important topics. In these apps, you can learn about the life of a sixteen-year-old refugee or take care of an adopted child's physical and mental health.
Choose language in the Google-box below. Some translations may be flawed or inaccurate.
Games have a unique ability to create engagement and interactivity. You can build and run cities and communities or explore a fantasy world.
However, some games and apps also address themes that foster empathy and understanding. The player can thus make choices that directly affect the ill-fated characters portrayed in the story. This can be a starting point for ethical reflection and learning when one sees that choices have consequences.
As a means against hate speech, cyberbullying, and alienation—here are some suggestions for games and apps that offer insight into other people’s perspectives.
Learn about tough women like Rosa Parks and Malala Yousafzai
Women Who Changed the World
Android (Google) PEGI 3 and iOS (Apple) 4+
This app conveys the story of fifteen real-life heroes like Malala Yousafzai, Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie, and Rosa Parks.
A tap on the icons of each of the women will show a mini-biography with text, images, and animations adapted for children. There is even Norwegian text and that makes it more accessible in Norway.
This can thus be a good starting point for learning more about important women in history and gaining insight into themes of injustice, racism, and discrimination, as well as heroism. Recommended from nine years.
Read and watch stories from children around the world
One Globe Kids – Friends
iOS (Apple) 4+
The app One Globe Kids – Friends conveys the everyday lives of twelve children from all over the world including Palestine, Israel, Haiti, Indonesia, the United States, and Norway.
You choose the desired country and get to read a story (in English) with an insight into the child’s everyday life. There are descriptions and pictures that portray school, food, family life, etc. In addition, you can practice words and phrases from the local language and read simple facts about the child’s country. The app also encourages you to answer some questions.
The app is free to download but requires purchases to access all the stories.
Borrow the mobile phone of a girl who is on the run
Finding Home
Android (Google) PEGI 3 and iOS (Apple) 9+
In this free app developed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, you meet sixteen-year-old Kathijah who has to provide and fend for herself. The country is in chaos and her family is missing.
The app itself looks like a mobile phone, and the story is conveyed by fictional characters, by sending messages and calling the main character. As a player you must make choices on behalf of the main character, with all the dilemmas that arise in it. The app is touching and strong with an insight into life as a young refugee.
Deal with bullying, shame, and alienation
My Child Lebensborn
Android (Google) PEGI 12 and iOS (Apple) 12+
In this game, you have to take the role of an adoptive parent for a child in the post-war period in Norway. Depending on the gender you choose, a little boy or girl, descended from a German soldier, enters the home. Conditions are very tight in the family, with limited access to food, clothing, and equipment.
The upbringing is tough – bullying at school, malicious neighbors, and teachers aggravate the distress. As a caregiver, it is often despairing to watch. The game conveys a strong theme with a protagonist who shows emotions and responds to the choices you make as an adult.
It requires that you manage time and resources in a good way. You have to prioritize the necessary tasks and try to show support in a situation that is often hopeless and almost impossible at times, while at the same time doing the best you can to help.
More tips:
Games about caring and helping others:
Games that revolve around collaboration:
Games that promote and explore other cultures:
[A longer version in Norwegian is available here. Translated by Ratan Samadder.]
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