A few years ago, I spent some time volunteering with a local Girl Scout Troop. The six girls within the troop were in 4th and 5th grade at the time. As the year progressed, the troop leader and I recognized some bullying starting between some of the girls in our troop. What we saw was that some of our girls had stronger personalities and seemed to be overpowering the other girls. Two of the girls displayed “bossy” characteristics, causing some of the other girls in the troop to stop participating as much as they had been. The troop leader and I decided to take action and address the issue during one of our meetings.

We created a chart on poster board with different examples of bullying written on it. As a group we read the examples out loud, talked about how someone being bullied might feel and had them come up with ways to address each example. We used examples like a new kid at school and someone being bullied for looking different or acting different. We also used some of the exchanges we had seen between the girls as examples: taking things from others because they want to use them, name calling, and using hurtful words towards others.

During our discussion we had the girls brainstorm as a group to come up with ideas on how they could take action to prevent and stop bullying. We talked about why respecting others, regardless of differences, was so important.

We then used the Anti-Bullying Toss & Talk Ball. This helped the girls talk more about bullying and prompted them in a fun “playful” way. We combined that activity with the Positive Attitude Toss & Talk Ball to help the girls come up with positive ways to counter bullying like making friends with that new kid so they don’t feel so left out, and standing up for the person being bullied because they are different. We discussed how to get a teacher or parent involved. Mixed within the discussions, we addressed and had them discuss the exchanges they’ve had, and how they might do things differently next time. By the following week, we saw the girls were working better together and being kinder to each other.

You can also use the Emotions Toss & Talk Ball or the Anger Management Toss & Talk Ball if your group could use some help with social emotional learning.

Bullying isn’t just about physical violence, it is about teaching children to work positively together and to be nice to one another. Sometimes it is just talking about it and making them aware of the way their actions can make others feel.  For more activities on Bully Prevention head here.