Bullying, as defined by the US government’s anti-bullying website, stopbullying.gov, is “intentionally aggressive, usually repeated, verbal, social, or physical behaviour aimed at a specific person or group of people.” The sad truth is that as of 2014, bullying has risen to epidemic proportions in this country. According to DoSomething.org, an overwhelming 90 per cent of youth from Grades 4 through 8 have been bullied at some point.
Behavioural counsellors agree that bullies are bred, not born and that educational activities designed to teach children about the hazards of bullying are highly effective at getting the message across early. With that in mind, the following are some bullying activities for kids that have been developed to teach children about the negative effects of bullying on another person.
Table of Contents
Empathy-Building Exercises for Kids
Empathy is crucial in combating bullying. Children develop compassion and learn to respond kindly by understanding others’ feelings. These exercises can be integrated into classrooms to enhance emotional intelligence and awareness.
Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes
In this activity, kids role-play as the bully, victim, and bystander in small groups. Afterwards, they reflect on their feelings in each role, helping them understand the emotional impact of bullying. This exercise teaches empathy and provides strategies for addressing bullying situations.
Empathy Maps
Empathy maps are visual tools that help kids articulate what others might feel in different situations. Children create empathy maps for someone being bullied, considering their thoughts and emotions. This activity deepens their understanding of complex feelings, fostering mindfulness and support in their social groups.
Kindness Chain or Kindness Jar
The Kindness Chain or Kindness Jar activity promotes positivity and fosters a sense of community. This hands-on project helps children recognise how their actions contribute to a supportive environment.
Kindness Chain
In the Kindness Chain project, each child writes an act of kindness they’ve done or witnessed on a strip of paper. These strips are looped together to create a visual chain representing the group’s collective kindness, displayed in the classroom as a daily reminder of the positive impact of small gestures.
Kindness Jar
In the Kindness Jar variation, students write their acts of kindness on slips of paper and place them in a jar. The class periodically reads through the slips, celebrating the documented acts. This activity reinforces the value of kindness and encourages reflection on how small actions can make a significant difference, helping to reduce negative behaviours like bullying.
Bucket Filling
The Bucket Filling concept teaches children about kindness, empathy, and emotional well-being. Using the metaphor of an invisible “emotional bucket,” kids learn how their actions can “fill” someone’s bucket with positivity or “empty” it by causing hurt.
How Bucket Filling Works
Facilitators explain that a full bucket represents happiness and confidence, while an empty bucket signifies sadness or loneliness. Kids discuss actions that fill buckets, such as complimenting or helping others, and behaviours that empty them, like bullying or exclusion.
Classroom Activity
Children practice “filling” each other’s buckets with kind words and actions to implement this. They can leave notes of appreciation on a bulletin board or use individual buckets to collect compliments. This reinforces positive behaviour and encourages empathy.
Reflection and Discussions
After the activity, hold a reflection session for kids to share their feelings about filling buckets and discuss how to continue fostering kindness. This will enhance self-awareness and promote a supportive community.
Conflict Resolution Role-Playing
Conflict Resolution Role-Playing helps kids practice handling bullying scenarios through role assignments (bully, victim, bystander, mediator). They act out situations in small groups, then discuss what happened and explore solutions. This teaches problem-solving, assertiveness, and ways to stand up against bullying or support needy peers.
Problem-Solving Skills
By role-playing, kids practice resolving conflicts using positive communication and safe intervention strategies. This builds confidence in dealing with real-life bullying situations.
Bystander Intervention
Children acting as bystanders learn how to safely intervene, support peers, and prevent bullying. This promotes empathy and empowers kids to take action.
Reflection
After the role-playing, group discussions help reinforce lessons, exploring how each role felt and what strategies were effective.
Respect and Appreciation Cards
In the Respect and Appreciation Cards activity, kids write thank-you or appreciation notes to their classmates, recognising positive qualities or kind actions. This encourages them to focus on the good they see in others, promoting kindness, respect, and gratitude. Acknowledging a peer’s positive behaviour helps build a supportive and respectful community, fostering stronger student relationships. These cards are a tangible reminder of the power of kindness and appreciation in creating a positive atmosphere.
Storytelling Through Art
Storytelling Through Art allows kids to express their thoughts on bullying by creating drawings, comic strips, or short stories. They depict bullying scenarios and positive resolutions, fostering creativity and emotional reflection. This activity provides a safe, non-verbal way for children to process complex emotions, encouraging empathy, problem-solving, and discussions about how to address bullying constructively. It also helps them explore their feelings in a creative and supportive environment.
Classroom Pledges or Group Agreements
In Classroom Pledges or Group Agreements, kids collaboratively create an anti-bullying pledge, committing to respect, kindness, and inclusion. After outlining shared values, they sign the pledge and can revisit it throughout the year. This collective promise fosters accountability and creates a sense of ownership, reinforcing a positive, bully-free environment where everyone is responsible for maintaining respectful behaviour.
Compliment Circle
In a Compliment Circle, each child sincerely compliments the person next to them in a group setting. This simple, positive activity boosts self-esteem, fosters kindness, and helps create a supportive, inclusive atmosphere. It encourages children to recognise and appreciate the good in others, strengthening peer relationships and promoting a sense of belonging.
Digital Citizenship & Online Bullying
Digital Citizenship and online Bullying education are crucial in today’s technology-driven world. Activities should focus on the risks of cyberbullying, teaching kids to recognise harmful behaviours and their impact. Lessons can include creating strong passwords to protect privacy and knowing how to report bullying incidents. This empowers children to navigate online spaces safely and responsibly, promoting respectful interactions and resilience against online negativity.
Debrief and Reflection Time
Debrief and Reflection Time involves gathering kids in a circle after activities to discuss their experiences. They share what they’ve learnt, how they feel, and how they can apply these lessons in real-life situations. This reflective process reinforces key concepts, promotes critical thinking, and empowers children by giving them a voice in the discussion. It fosters a sense of community, encourages emotional expression, and helps solidify the skills they’ve developed in addressing bullying and promoting kindness.
Mindfulness & Stress Reduction Techniques
Mindfulness & Stress Reduction Techniques involve guided breathing exercises and meditation to help children manage bullying-related stress and emotions. By practising mindfulness, kids learn to focus on the present moment, reducing anxiety and promoting emotional regulation. This centeredness enhances their ability to cope with conflicts and respond calmly in challenging situations. Integrating mindfulness into daily routines fosters resilience, improves self-awareness, and equips children with tools to navigate social interactions more effectively.
The Wrinkled Willow Exercise
The Wrinkled Willow Exercise is a great activity to use with younger children. Guiding children through this exercise is rather simple. Starting with a clean, crisp sheet of paper, have participants outline a person (be sure the participant draws a full body outline, not just a face or stick figure). You can also provide a cutout that students can trace to create an outline.
Next, students will assign a name to the person the outline represents. In this example, we will use the name Willow. Participants will write rude, disrespectful, and bullying comments throughout that outline. For example, comments could include such statements as, “Get away from us; nobody likes you,” or “You’re such a loser,” or “Willow, you’re stupid.” Have participants cover the entire outline with bullying statements directed toward Willow.
Once finished, have each participant crumple the entire sheet of paper, then undo the crumpling, trying to smooth out the page again. From here (if you have enough space), post the pictures around the room or on a board at the front of the room. The pictures offer the participants an image that can be translated into what bullying does to its victims.
Explain the negative impact those harsh, critical words have had on the bullying victim and how those negative statements can damage a person’s self-image and can lead to feelings of defeat, which is often reflected in a person’s body language.
More importantly, those wrinkled sheets of paper remind participants that you cannot “take back” negative words or undo their effect, just as they could not completely remove the wrinkles from the sheet of paper (though they tried). That’s what happens with bullying victims; those sheets of paper provide children with a tangible example they can relate to.
To offer a contrast, have students repeat the outline, giving it the same name but this time not crumpling the sheet of paper. Have participants write nice, positive, uplifting comments. Post the second outline around the room or on the board, then enter an open-ended discussion with the entire group or break up participants into smaller groups.
The Toothpaste Challenge
The toothpaste challenge is an easy, quick, and inexpensive activity that can be performed with students of varying ages (including young children). To do this activity, simply take a piece of masking tape and place a portion across a desk. Then, set a tube of toothpaste right next to it.
Next, ask for a volunteer to come up. The volunteer will use the toothpaste to cover the length of the masking tape. Once the volunteer has completed this portion of the request, ask him or her to now take the toothpaste which was just dispersed across that piece of masking tape, and put it back into the tube. This individual will attempt — unsuccessfully — to return the toothpaste to the tube, and it will take a few minutes of trying before it becomes clear to both the volunteer and all the other participants in the room that this simply is not possible.
This exercise aims to relate the effect of harsh and critical words to toothpaste, demonstrating that toothpaste, like those words, simply cannot be taken back. One of the most important things to remember in selecting bullying activities for kids is finding exercises that underscore to them what those poorly chosen, hurtful words do to the victim. However, participants should also be reminded that the damage cannot be reversed.
Positive Self-Talk
In Positive Self-Talk, students learn to counter negative messages with positive messages they speak about themselves. Start with a blank piece of paper, asking students to list positive or negative messages they’ve received from others. Then, ask students whether or not they’ve adopted those messages (and whether they still believe them today). This activity can often prompt thought-provoking conversation and provides a great lead-in to conversations about self-acceptance.
Have students write out Positive Self-Talk statements (similar to these examples) and ask them to repeat those PST statements daily:
- I am a good, caring person who deserves to be treated with respect.
- I deserve happiness in my life.
- I’m capable of achieving success.
Unity Petitions
Bullying activities for middle school or high school students are often effective when stimulating discussions and group activities are involved. These are the years when peer pressure reaches new heights, but after discussing the irreversible damage caused by bullying (perhaps using activities such as the Toothpaste Challenge), students can choose to participate in a Unity Pledge, which will involve signing a Unity Petition.
A Unity Poster can be printed, and each student can sign it, along with a printed or digital petition. The petition essentially says that individuals signing the poster/petition agree not to participate in any bullying activity.
From there, a classroom-wide or school-wide essay contest can be entered, and students can be assigned the task of writing an anti-bullying announcement (to be read over the school’s PA system during morning announcements or within the individual classroom). The petition or pledge can underscore their commitment to prevent and end bullying.
Video PSA
Because middle school and high school students are often really interested in both media and social media, having students collectively participate in creating a PSA against bullying is a great way to prompt stimulating discussions, promote unity, and offer a platform for students to express their opinions on the subject. Students can use statistics, activities, personal accounts, etc., to underscore the damage bullying causes. This activity can be done in one or more classrooms, as a contest, or as a grade-level or school-wide project.
We hope this list of bullying activities for kids gave you ideas on how to help kids handle bullying or deal with its consequences.