Characters Like Me, Characters Not Like MeActivities & Teaching Strategies
Young children learn best when they move, see, and touch. For this topic, active tasks let them compare themselves to characters through drawing, acting, and talking. These concrete experiences help them notice both shared experiences and differences in a safe, playful way.
Learning Objectives
- 1Identify characters in a story who share similar daily routines or feelings with themselves.
- 2Compare and contrast the home environments or family structures of story characters with their own.
- 3Explain how a character's actions or feelings might be different from their own experiences.
- 4Classify characters as 'like me' or 'different from me' based on specific story details.
Want a complete lesson plan with these objectives? Generate a Mission →
Pair Mirror: Same Actions
Pairs select a book scene where a character performs a daily action, like brushing teeth. One child acts it out while the partner mirrors exactly, then discusses: 'I do this too.' Switch roles and share one similarity with the class.
Prepare & details
What does this character do that is the same as something you do?
Facilitation Tip: During Pair Mirror: Same Actions, stand near pairs to quietly name what you see them mirror, like 'You’re both holding a cup like the girl in the book.'
Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging
Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet
Circle Share: Different Homes
Gather the whole class in a circle with book images of characters' homes. Each child holds a drawing or photo of their own home, passes it around, and says one difference, such as 'My house has two floors, theirs has none.' Teacher models first.
Prepare & details
How is this character's home or family different from yours?
Facilitation Tip: In Circle Share: Different Homes, hold up two home pictures and say, 'Tell me one thing you notice that is the same — like both have a door — and one that is different — like one has a garden.'
Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging
Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet
Drama Stations: Character Feelings
Set up three stations with feeling cards from stories: happy, sad, surprised. Small groups rotate, act out the feeling as the character, then guess together. Record one sentence about why the character feels that way.
Prepare & details
How do you think this character is feeling in this part of the story?
Facilitation Tip: At Drama Stations: Character Feelings, model how to freeze and name a feeling, 'I’m sad because my friend moved away,' before children act.
Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging
Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet
My Character Book: Draw and Label
Children work alone to draw themselves next to a character, adding simple labels like 'same: play ball' or 'different: big family.' Share in pairs before displaying on walls for ongoing reference.
Prepare & details
What does this character do that is the same as something you do?
Facilitation Tip: During My Character Book: Draw and Label, remind children to write one word under each drawing, such as 'play' or 'sleep,' to connect the image to the story.
Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging
Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet
Teaching This Topic
Teachers guide children to notice both sameness and difference without rushing to judgment. Start with obvious connections, like eating breakfast, then gently introduce contrasts, like family size or traditions. Use open questions that require children to look closely and think before they speak. Avoid leading statements like 'Don’t you think this is weird?' Instead, ask, 'What do you notice about how this home looks?' Research shows that when children feel safe naming differences, empathy grows naturally.
What to Expect
Children will point to similarities and differences between themselves and story characters with confidence. They will use simple vocabulary like 'same' and 'different' when describing homes, actions, and feelings. Their work will show growing empathy as they connect emotions across different experiences.
These activities are a starting point. A full mission is the experience.
- Complete facilitation script with teacher dialogue
- Printable student materials, ready for class
- Differentiation strategies for every learner
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionDuring Pair Mirror: Same Actions, watch for...
What to Teach Instead
Some children may assume all characters act the same. Redirect by asking, 'Can you find one action in the story that is different from what you do?' Help them name the difference, like 'The boy in the story walks to school alone, I walk with my brother.'
Common MisconceptionDuring Drama Stations: Character Feelings, watch for...
What to Teach Instead
Children may think only characters who look like them feel certain emotions. Use the feeling cards to ask, 'Is this character happy or sad? How do you know?' Guide them to notice facial expressions and body language to confirm universal feelings.
Common MisconceptionDuring My Character Book: Draw and Label, watch for...
What to Teach Instead
Some children may avoid drawing characters who look different from them. Encourage them with, 'This character has curly hair like your friend — what might they like to do?' Provide mirrors or photos to help them connect features to actions.
Assessment Ideas
After Pair Mirror: Same Actions, ask each child to point to one action from the story that matches something they do at home.
During Circle Share: Different Homes, show two home pictures, one from the story and one of a child in the class. Ask, 'How are these homes the same? How are they different?' Note if children use vocabulary like 'similar' or 'different' in their answers.
After My Character Book: Draw and Label, collect the books and ask each child to tell you one thing that is the same about their home and the story home, and one thing that is different.
Extensions & Scaffolding
- Challenge: After My Character Book, invite children to write or dictate a sentence about a character’s day and compare it to their own.
- Scaffolding: For Pair Mirror, provide picture cards of actions from the book so children can match and act them out.
- Deeper: After Circle Share, invite children to bring a small object from home that represents their family and explain how it connects to the story home.
Key Vocabulary
| Character | A person or animal in a story. We look at what they do, say, and how they feel. |
| Similar | When two things are almost the same. For example, you and a character might both like to play with blocks. |
| Different | When two things are not the same. For example, a character might live in a castle, and you might live in a house. |
| Feeling | How a character feels inside, like happy, sad, or surprised. We can guess their feelings by looking at their face or what they do. |
Suggested Methodologies
Planning templates for Foundations of Language and Literacy
More in Celebrating Diversity in Literature
Stories from Around the World
Reading and discussing folk tales and stories from different countries.
3 methodologies
The Way We Speak
Students will explore the concept of language variation, including dialects, sociolects, and idiolects, and analyse how these variations are represented in literature and media.
3 methodologies
Ready to teach Characters Like Me, Characters Not Like Me?
Generate a full mission with everything you need
Generate a Mission