Faith Curriculum Library: Tapestry of Faith: Moral Tales: A Program on Making Choices for Grades 2-3

Alternate Activity 3: The Bully On The Path - Assertiveness Skills Practice

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Sound maker
  • Stuffed animal or doll

Preparation for Activity

  • Plan to use this activity after Activity 4: The Courage Workout, as it offers a chance to apply skills children will learn in that activity.
  • Make an open space in the room where you can designate a "path" or area for the bully and target to stand, and where the children can make a single file line. This way you will physically recreate the scene from the story, "The Lion on the Path." The line should wind around the room so that the children can see what the one who is "up" is doing.

Description of Activity

This activity gives the children a chance to practice the assertiveness skills they used in Activity 4: The Courage Workout in a context that requires courage to act from conscience or knowing what is the right thing to do - even when they may feel scared. Instead of a lion, you will pretend to be a bully bothering someone on a path. The stuffed animal or doll, or another adult, should role play the target.

The bully can have a standard line to say such as, "Give me your lunch money or else," or "Your hair cut makes you look like a Martian." (Take care to pick something that will not personally offend anyone).

Invite the children to line up one behind the other at the other end of the path from where you will meet them each as the "bully" who is bothering a target (the stuffed animal, doll, or co-leader). Tell them, when it is their turn, they will step up and use the assertiveness skills they practiced in Activity 4: The Courage Workout. They may say "Quit it," "Stop it" or "That's not nice" to the bully. As the bully, allow their actions to stop your bullying.

If time allows you may wish to ask them to create another role play scenario. Here are two options you can introduce. For each, take the time to clarify as needed the complicated nature of courage.

  • A friend of yours is being mean to someone else. You know it is wrong and want to tell your friend to stop. How do you do this?
  • You feel that it would be the right thing to do to invite an unpopular child to join you at lunch, at recess or at a birthday party, but you are afraid other children may be mad or laugh at you. How do you explain to your friends that it is the right thing to do?

You may wish to let the children come up with their own scenarios of social situations that they find frightening.