Anti-Bullying Month Activities for IB PYP: Inspiring Inquiry, Kindness and Student Action

 Inquiry, Empathy & Action in Anti-Bullying Month

Every October, schools worldwide focus attention on raising awareness about bullying, promoting kindness, and empowering students to act. National Bullying Prevention Month offers a timely frame for engaging learners in inquiry that leads not just to awareness, but to student-led action for positive change.  

Within an IB PYP classroom, we can leverage this month to deepen conceptual thinking (e.g. perspective, responsibility, relationships, identity, fairness) while scaffolding students’ capabilities to inquire, reflect, and act in their communities. Below I've suggested  a structure, some practical classroom examples, and ways to incorporate ready-made tools that encourage student agency.

BOOK LIST: And, Im including a book list for you too with some of my favourites for exploring the concepts of relationships, peace & conflict and caring. Scroll down😊

Core Research / Inquiry Skills in Anti-Bullying Projects

When framing an inquiry around bullying, the same research subskills we teach in other domains apply but with an added ethical and social dimension. Key competencies include:

• Observation / Noticing: Encourage students to notice interactions, body language, tone, social patterns, and environments where exclusion or unkindness happen (e.g. lunchroom, playground, digital contexts).

• Formulating Questions: Guide learners to ask open, reflective, investigative questions such as “Why do some children feel excluded?” or “What makes a kind action meaningful?” rather than yes/no queries.

• Making Connections / Perspective Taking: Help students link what they observe with prior knowledge or empathy. e.g. connecting exclusions they’ve seen with concepts of fairness, kindness, power, or identity.

• Hypothesising / Predicting: Invite students to propose tentative explanations or predictions: “I predict that if students carry kindness cards, bullying incidents might decrease.” Or “If we rotate seats, friendships may form more broadly.”

• Gathering Evidence / Data Collection: Students might conduct surveys, interviews, “kindness logs,” behavior charts, scenario role-plays, or collect examples of unkindness/kindness from media or literature.

• Organising & Analysing: Use charts, coding categories (e.g. verbal, social, digital), tallying, Venn diagrams, or sorting to find patterns in their collected evidence.

• Synthesising / Drawing Conclusions: Students reflect: Which hypotheses were supported? What new understandings about bullying and relationships did we gain?

• Communication & Presentation: Provide opportunities to present findings via posters, drama, digital slides, infographics, or short videos. Emphasize clear evidence, conceptual language, and possible actions.

• Metacognition & Reflection: Prompt students to reflect on their inquiry strategies: What helped? What would they change? What further questions remain?

• Action / Agency: The distinctive PYP “take action” component becomes central — students propose, plan, and implement initiatives that stem directly from their research insights.

By anchoring anti-bullying work in inquiry skills rather than just awareness, students own the process and outcomes.

Three Classroom Inquiry Examples for or ALL ages

Below are three practical inquiry ideas you can run (or adapt) within October (or year-round) to move from awareness to action.

1. Kindness Observatory Inquiry 

Concepts: relationships, responsibility, empathy
Provocation / Launch: Post a video clip or read a picture book depicting social exclusion or kindness. Ask, “What did you notice? What puzzles you about how people treat each other?”

Inquiry Steps:

• Observation / Questioning: Students keep a “Kindness Log” for a week, noting acts of kindness, exclusion, or unkindness around school or home.

• Formulating Hypotheses: Students predict: “If we share compliments at morning meeting, kindness may increase.”

• Data Gathering: They tally or categorise logs (e.g. by location, type, initiator). Optionally, they conduct brief interviews: “When did you feel included? Why?”

• Analysis / Synthesis: Groups compare logs, look for patterns (time, place, who is involved). They summarise their findings: what times or places see more exclusion or unkindness?

• Action Planning: Based on findings, students propose small interventions: e.g. “Compliment Cup,” “Kindness Walks,” rotating buddy benches, secret kindness missions.

• Implementation & Presentation: Students implement the chosen action for 1–2 weeks, monitor its impact, and then present results (with before/after logs, reflections, visuals).

• Reflection & Extension: Reflect on impact, successes, challenges. Pose new inquiry: “Which actions reached people beyond our class?”

2. Voices & Perspectives of Bullying Inquiry

• Concepts: perspective, identity, relationships
  Provocation / Launch: Share anonymous short scenarios (written or video) of bullying or exclusion. I created the drama circle specifically for this activity. 😊 You can link to it in my store here and, the Social Skills task cards have great short scenarios for this activity too - not just with bullying.  
• Invite students to role-play or reflect: “How might each person feel? What leads them to act that way?”

Inquiry Steps:

• Question Generation & Hypothesis: Students brainstorm: “Why do people bully sometimes?” “What stops someone from intervening?” They hypothesize underlying causes (e.g. power, fear, miscommunication).

• Data Collection: Students interview peers or staff about kindness, exclusion, conflict, and ideas for support. They may also gather quotes from literature or media about bullying.

• Organising & Analysis: Create themes across interviews: triggers, feelings, barriers, enablers. Use concept maps or thematic coding.

• Synthesis: Students develop models (e.g. “bullying iceberg” showing visible/unseen causes) and articulate central insights.

• Action Proposal: Design a campaign or peer support system based on the research.  e.g. “Kindness Ambassadors,” peer support posters, class circle discussions. Within the drama activity, it guides children through taking action as well. Our class created a school-wide initiative to support each other. 

• Implementation & Communication: Roll out the student-led initiative, collect feedback, and present results in a school assembly or via posters.

• Metacognitive Reflection: Students reflect on what they learned about themselves, others, and the process of investigating social issues.

3. Digital Kindness & Cyber Bullying Inquiry

This inquiry was actually raised during our Exhibition prep and we collaborated with grade 4 too. 

Concepts: responsibility, change, systems
Provocation / Launch: Present age-appropriate scenarios of online exclusion, mean messages, or anonymous comments (fictional). Ask students: “When is communication kind? When is it harmful?”

Inquiry Steps:

• Observation & Questioning: Students note examples (news, social media, stories) of digital kindness and harm. They produce wonderings: “Why do people say hurtful things online?” “How does anonymity affect behavior?”

• Hypothesising: Students propose predictions (e.g. “If people pause before posting negative comments, fewer harmful posts will occur”).

• Evidence Gathering: Use class surveys, simulations, role-play, or examine comment threads (teacher‐managed). Interview older students or parents about their experiences.

• Organising & Analysis: Graph types of digital communication, frequency of unkindness, triggers. Categorize by medium (chat, social post, comment).

• Synthesising: Students draw conclusions about factors influencing digital kindness/harm, and identify leverage points for change.

• Taking Action: Propose a “Digital Kindness Campaign”, e.g. pause and reflect prompts before posting, kindness hashtags, peer reminders, pledge banners.

• Implementation & Evaluation: Run the campaign, ask students to monitor posts or interactions, gather reflections, and present outcomes.

• Reflection & Future Inquiry: Reflect on what worked and next questions: “How to sustain kindness online?” or “How to extend to parents/community?”

Using Ready-Made Tools as Catalysts for Action

To help scaffold and anchor your anti-bullying inquiry, here are several excellent predesigned resources you can draw on or adapt:

• Enough’s Enough Anti‑Bullying Discussion Cards
  Use these as provocations or discussion starters. Students can draw a card and discuss the scenario, ask inquiry questions, and link to class norms or research questions.

• No Bullying Drama Circles & Action Activity                                           This resource offers structured circle dialogues and follow-up action steps (ideal for discussing feelings, perspective, and planning acts of kindness). It helps transform discussion into tangible student initiatives.

• Anti-Bullying Taking Action: One Kind Word Challenge
  This resource invites students to commit to linking acts of kindness with words that fill our community with hope, caring and friendship and track results over time. It's a scaffold to the “Kindness Observatory” inquiry example above.

• Taking Action: Developing IB PYP Student-Led Action Posters Set & Developing IB PYP Student-Led Action Posters
  These poster sets help students articulate and publicly display their action initiatives, creating shared visual reminders. You can find a set for all age levels here. Use them to support the communication phase of inquiry. Students can design posters, share their rationale (linking to their inquiry evidence), and deploy them around school.

These tools are not one-off gestures but rather they become entry points to meaningful inquiry, scaffolding student voice, and providing structure for action planning and accountability.

Also consider aligning with Unity Day (often in late October) : a day to wear a symbolic colour (orange) and publicize students’ anti-bullying messages. Take a look at Pacer.org teacher tools.  PACER Center+1

Why This Matters in PYP Context

• Student agency & voice: Rather than teachers telling them what bullying is, students investigate, discover, and decide. This aligns with PYP values around agency and action.

• Conceptual depth: Bullying is not just behavior — it ties into concepts of power, perspective, identity, choice, systems, and ethics.

• Transferable skills: The inquiry, data literacy, perspective taking, and metacognitive habits developed here apply across all disciplines.

• Sustained change: When students design and lead initiatives, the effects are more durable than one-off posters or lectures.

• Community connection: Bullying is part of the relational ecosystems of school. Inquiry that extends into peer, class, and school systems helps students see themselves as contributors to culture.

Book List for Anti-Bullying Inquiry in PYP Classrooms

Building Empathy & Perspective

• Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
  A classic about teasing and self-acceptance, great for discussing identity and respect.

• Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
  A joyful story of resilience in the face of teasing, reinforcing confidence and courage.

• Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
  A moving story about missed opportunities for kindness and the ripple effect of our choices.

• The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
  Highlights exclusion and the power of inclusion and friendship.

Identity, Uniqueness & Celebrating Differences

• Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy
  Teaches kids to celebrate differences and be themselves, even when teased.

• Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall
  A metaphor for identity and misunderstanding — brilliant for concept work on perspective.

• Elmer by David McKee
  A colorful story of difference and acceptance, especially suitable for the youngest PYP learners.

• Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
  Promotes celebrating uniqueness and supporting others’ talents.

Kindness & Taking Action

• One by Kathryn Otoshi
  A powerful picture book where colors represent people — teaches about standing up, taking action, and the courage of “one.”

• Say Something by Peter H. Reynolds
  Encourages speaking up against injustice or unkindness.

• Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud
  The “bucket-filling” metaphor is an excellent action model for kindness in lower PYP.

• Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler
  Practical, action-oriented kindness tasks, perfect for a classroom challenge.

Digital Responsibility & Bullying

• Nerdy Birdy Tweets by Aaron Reynolds
  Addresses online behavior, digital empathy, and the impact of words online.

• Click’d by Tamara Ireland Stone (upper PYP)
  A middle-grade novel about coding, friendship, and unintended consequences online.

Stories of Courage & Standing Up

• Bully by Patricia Polacco
  Tackles cyberbullying and peer pressure for upper PYP students.

• Confessions of a Former Bully by Trudy Ludwig
  Written from the perspective of a child who bullied, offering a new lens.

• Nobody Knew What to Do by Becky McCain
  Emphasizes the importance of bystanders taking action.

Global & Inclusive Perspectives

• I Walk with Vanessa: A Story About a Simple Act of Kindness by Kerascoët
  Wordless — invites inquiry into perspectives, relationships, and actions.

• Say Something (again, for older children, by Peggy Moss)
  Encourages students to notice exclusion and act.

• The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
  Celebrates diverse identities and the courage to share your story.

October’s Anti-Bullying focus provides a powerful lever for inquiry-based, student-led transformation. When we guide, provoke, scaffold, and gradually release, students can move from noticing moments of unkindness to investigating deeper causes and designing meaningful, evidence-based actions. The real goal is not only that bullying decreases, but that kindness, empathy, and respectful relationships become part of the school’s fabric, led by the very learners whom we hope to empower.

Enjoy! 

P.S. Did you know that members of our monthly Essentials for Inquiry membership receive £8.00 pass every month to spend on ANY PYP teaching tools. Learn more right here.