In recognition of Bully Awareness Month, we want to help educators, teachers, therapists, and other professionals create safer, more inclusive learning environments.
Each year in the U.S., a staggering 13 million students experience bullying. That’s 1 in 4 students directly affected and 1 in 3 facing cyberbullying. The encouraging news is that in more than half of these cases when someone intervenes, the bullying stops within 10 seconds.
When we nurture essential social-emotional skills, teach kids how to manage conflict, and promote kindness, acceptance, and inclusion, we also teach students to recognize, prevent, and address bullying.
In this blog, I will focus on bully prevention by highlighting some key factors contributing to bullying and provide some of our favorite activities to help educators create a classroom where every student feels safe and respected, whether online or offline.
Social-Emotional Learning
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is important because it helps students understand their own feelings and the feelings of others. Without these skills, students may feel unsure of themself and lack the confidence to express themselves, which may make them a target for bullying. When students have the right tools, they can handle tough situations like bullying and peer pressure.
The activity bundle by Annie’s Classroom is a great resource for learning these skills. The comprehensive bundle covers important topics like dealing with peer pressure, building self-esteem, using a social filter (thinking before speaking), and practicing social skills. It teaches the “Golden Rule” of kindness—treat others how you want to be treated. These colorful, engaging, and inclusive multiple-choice activities are wonderful resources for grades PreK-3.
Friendship Skills
Friendship skills are key to helping students maintain their self-respect and confidence, especially when faced with negative behaviors like teasing or bullying. Teaching students how to respond assertively, rather than passively or aggressively, teaches them to stand up for themselves in a way that discourages the mean behavior without escalating the situation. For example, instead of reacting with silence (passive) or lashing out (aggressive), students can use calm but firm comebacks like, “That’s not true, and I don’t appreciate it.”
The Friendship Skills: Comebacks activity is created by Katrina Bevan – SLP and offers students a chance to practice this tricky skill. Each card presents a quick scenario with a picture. Students must choose from three possible comebacks to deal with the situation. The goal is to pick a response that discourages negative behavior in a healthy, assertive way. If the student chooses correctly, the answer is circled in green. If incorrect, it is crossed out in red. Students get another chance to try again until they find the correct answer. This activity is perfect for grades 1-3 to practice positive, effective ways to handle conflict.
Bullying VS Disagreement
Understanding the difference between bullying and regular conflict is crucial for older students. The Speechie Witchie deck Bullying or Disagreement? (Social Problem Solving, Conflict Management) is designed for grades 3-7. This activity helps students navigate these situations by teaching them how to identify whether they’re dealing with bullying or just a disagreement.
The activity provides examples, scenarios, and then the opportunity for fill in the blank or have meaningful, open-ended discussions. It embraces neurodivergent thinking, making it especially helpful for students who process information differently.
As a homeschool parent of a neurodivergent child, I’ve found this deck to be an incredibly valuable tool. What I love about this resource is that it gives real-life scenarios—like wanting to play a video game or watch TV. This allows them to practice problem-solving in situations they actually encounter. This exact scenario has actually happened in our home!
Students are encouraged to think critically about the situation, identify the problem, and figure out different ways to solve it. This helps them learn to manage conflicts and builds essential problem-solving skills. The resource focuses on recognizing when a situation escalates into bullying versus when it’s just a disagreement. Through these lessons, students develop conflict-resolution skills. This helps them handle disagreements in a healthy, productive way and avoid harmful behaviors.
By presenting real-life scenarios, this deck teaches students practical strategies they can use in everyday situations. This prepares them to handle conflicts more confidently.
Internet Safety Social Skills
As a parent with older kids who spend a lot of time on the internet, internet safety has become a big priority for me. The Internet Safety Boom Cards deck by Speech and Teach PH is a fantastic resource for students in grades 6-10. It helps them develop essential online safety skills. This activity is pretty thorough! It covers important concepts like recognizing fake news, dealing with people pretending to be someone else, navigating internet challenges, protecting privacy, and understanding plagiarism.
In today’s digital age, the risk of cyberbullying and online threats is a daily concern. This activity helps equip students with the tools to safely engage online. They learn how to spot and report harmful behaviors, maintain digital privacy, and protect themselves from online predators.
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment below. We’d love to hear from you! You can also use the search feature to find more activities related to Bully Prevention and Awareness. Don’t forget to share this article with others who might find these resources helpful!
