Emp Stories
A companion to our Emp Detective program:
The Emp Stories are a collection of short stories written to accompany the Emp Detective Agency programme. Each one follows a child navigating a real emotional moment, being left out, facing change, feeling two emotions at once, told through the lens of The Emps they are coming to know.
These stories are not just for reading. They are for pausing in, wondering about, and exploring together. They give children just enough distance to recognise themselves, and just enough closeness to feel understood.
They are here for you to use freely, in the classroom, in a support session, at home, or wherever a child needs them.
This resource is exclusively for the Newsletter Subscriber Community it can only be accessed through the link in our newsletter and not navigated to directly on the website.
Emp Stories
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Emp Detective Agency
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Emp Stories 🩵 Emp Detective Agency 🧡
Rooted in Lisa Feldman Barrett's theory of constructed emotion, The Emp Stories are designed to show children that emotions live inside situations, shaped by context, body signals, and the meaning we make alongside others. There are no right or wrong answers. Just curiosity, conversation, and a gentle way in.
This is a short guide for practitioners, with wondering questions and advice on how to use the stories with children.
This resource is available exclusively to Emp Drop newsletter subscribers.
In this story, a child watches a group of friends playing on the playground and plucks up the courage to ask if they can join, only to be told no. What follows is an honest account of what can happen inside our bodies at tricky moments like these: the chest that tightens, the feet that won't move, and then the rush of something louder and hotter arriving right behind the hurt. More than one Emp comes to visit, and children are invited to spot when each one arrives and what they might need.
In this story, a child sits in class as pencils scratch and scribble all around them, but the words won't come. As the page stays blank, something begins to shift inside them: a heart that thumps a little faster, shoulders that curl inwards, and a thought that creeps in quiet as a whisper. Underneath it all, something else begins to build. A few Emps have arrived (one soft and wobbly, one fizzing and hot) and children are invited to notice the body signals, the situation, and wonder which visitors have come to call.
The Atlast Project →
Stories may be the oldest tool we have for making sense of what it means to be human and it turns out also one of the most powerful we have for helping children understand their inner world too.
More stories are on their way soon.
Happy Emping
Dr Nat