Self-Esteem Activities to Prevent Bullying & Raise Confidence

bullying-self-esteem-activities

With the bullying epidemic taking a toll on children from grade school through graduation, self-esteem activities are more important than ever. These activities not only help bullying victims by boosting their own self-worth after a bad experience, but they can also prevent kids from becoming bullies in the first place. Many children bully because of confidence issues. Try these bullying self-esteem activities with your own children or share them with your child’s teacher for classroom bullying activities.

Bullying Self-Esteem Activities for Kids, Families & Schools

Crumpled paper: Draw a person (just a generic person).  Tell the kids to say some hurtful things to this person on the paper.  With each hurtful statement, they crumple a piece of that person.  Once he is in a ball, straighten him out and now have them say nice things about this person.  With each nice compliment, smooth out the paper, as best as you can.  The end  result is still some crumpled parts and wrinkles.  The idea is that the hurtful words still hurt and made him a different person, even after saying nice things to him.

Pay-It-Forward:  You can create a board with different squares that have different ideas on nice things to do for others.  The spaces can have things such as: holding a door for another person, smile at someone, saying ‘hi’ to someone you walk by or help someone clean up without them asking.  These things are done to them all the time and they don’t realize it.  The idea is that kids learn that it is nice to do things for other people, without getting anything in return.

 “It Bugs Me When…”: This is great for preschool and kindergarten aged kids!  Create a little bug with construction paper (circle body, 2 tear drops for wings, circle head, 2 pipe cleaners for antennae and 2 googly eyes).  You as the adult write on a wing “It bugs me when…” and on the body you write the kids’ responses!  It is a great way for learning what really bothers children.

“How I Can Be A Friend”: You can create this anyway you want.  Create computer images and print out with space for them to write or simply hand out blank construction paper and ask the question “How can you be a friend?” and have the children draw pictures of how they can be a friend to someone.  Whether it be at lunch, on the playground or in the classroom, they will learn that they can be a friend to anyone anywhere at any time during the day!

The “I Am” project: A great project to talk about self-esteem.  On a blank piece of paper write the words “I Am” and then some thought bubbles around the words.  The children will then write good things about themselves in the thought bubbles.  You can take this a step further and create a big poster with all the things the kids have said about themselves and post it to the wall.

 Getting young kids to recognize the effects of bullying is important in helping to eliminate it.  It is a problem that has been around forever and is going to continue to be a problem in schools.  The only thing we can do is educate our children who are on the front lines.

What are some self-esteem activities you have done to help your children recognize bullying and boost their self-worth?  Post your ideas below!

17 thoughts on “Self-Esteem Activities to Prevent Bullying & Raise Confidence”

  1. I’m a singer/songwriter whose written award winning music to empower and inspire bullying victims and those suffering rejection. I’m featured in Hollister ‘s “All Equal” antibullying video as well as Seventeen Magazine’s 2013 Mean Stinks vidoe. I gave a TEDx talk about making a difference with music. Please visit kathleenelle.com to hear my antibullying song “Don’t Let Them In” on my EP Helium and view my videos.

  2. I love the crumpled paper idea! It’s so easy to believe that our words have no effect on others and this craft is a fantastic visual aid to remind kids that words are powerful and have lasting effects. I can’t wait to try this one, thanks!

  3. bullies are so hard to control. those are great tips. I had to talk to my daughter about it even though she doesn’t bully.

  4. These look like some good exercises to use, both to teach empathy and help build up a kid that has experienced some of this. “Sticks and stones” worked when we were kids but it seems to be a much more pervasive problem now than it was when I was young.

  5. I really like the “It Bugs Me When” idea, it can be hard to communicate about these important topics with younger children, this is a great way for adults to connect and understand.

  6. I absolutely love this post. It’s so important for kids to have self esteem. It helps them cope with the world, and it also prevents them from being bullies. Bullies ALWAYS have low self-esteem.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *