Gospel Living

Activity: Recognizing and Stopping Bullying

25 Nov 2019 | 1 min read

Help children understand and respond to bullying in a Christlike way.

Talk with the children about what bullying is and how it is different from disagreeing with or not liking someone. Explain that bullying is when someone uses their power (such as physical strength, embarrassing information, or popularity) to control or harm others. Bullying typically happens more than once or has the potential to happen more than once.

Write different situations on slips of paper where people can be hurt intentionally or unintentionally. Invite children to draw a slip of paper and read the situation out loud or have you read the situation out loud to them. Have the children decide whether the scenario is bullying. For example:

Marco trips in the hallway and runs into Vicente, knocking the books out of his hands.
Marco walks past Vicente in the hallway and knocks the books out of his hands. Marco and his friends laugh while Vicente picks up his books.
Emma felt bad when Alice got a better grade on the math test than she did. She didn’t feel like talking to Alice for the rest of the class period, but she felt better the next day.
Emma felt bad when Alice got a better grade on the math test than she did. Emma told all her friends not to talk to Alice anymore.
Jacob accidentally texted an embarrassing photo of Josh to some other friends. This made Josh feel bad, and Jacob apologized right away.
Jacob texted an embarrassing photo of Josh to some other friends, along with a message about how dumb Josh can be sometimes. Josh heard Jacob and the other friends whispering and laughing behind his back.

After each example of bullying, discuss how those who experienced or witnessed the bullying could respond. Consider sharing “Getting the Best of the Bully” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org) with the children and talking to them about how the boy in the story chose to react to his bully.

Please adapt activities as necessary to ensure all individuals are able to participate, belong, and contribute.

Invite children to “be buddies, not bullies.” Play a game of tag where the children get into pairs (buddies) and link arms. Choose one pair of children, and have the first buddy of that pair be “it.” The first buddy gives the second buddy a few seconds to run away, and the second buddy can escape from being caught by running to any other buddy pair and linking arms with one of the buddies. As soon as arms are linked, the outside buddy of the pair runs away, and the child who is “it” tries to tag him or her instead. If the first buddy tags the second buddy before the second buddy can link arms with a pair, then the second buddy is “it.”
If the children communicate with other children electronically, such as through text messaging, email, or another app, talk about how to recognize and respond to cyberbullying. Compare cyberbullying to other forms of bullying, and emphasize that no matter the source, the result is often the same.
Invite children to find ways to stand against bullying by being kind to others every day for a week. Create a poster, craft, or wearable item that they can take home to help them remember to be kind.
Service idea: Schedule an “afternoon of fun” at a local shelter, children’s home, or refugee center. Plan to do a craft, watch a movie with popcorn, or play games.

Encourage children to talk about how what they are learning can help them and others grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Discussions can take place before, during, or after the activity and should last just a few minutes. You could ask questions like the following:

How does being kind to others who have been bullied help you share and feel God’s love?
How did the Savior react to individuals who were unkind to Him? How can we be like Him when people are not nice to us?