Art, Unity, and Anti-Bullying: Pink Shirt Day’s Impact in Schools
“If you see someone being bullied, make it stop.” – Susane Colasanti
February can be one of the darkest months in our long Canadian winters. Thankfully we have Pink Shirt Day to warm our hearts and open our lives to the amazing diversity of our country.
Pink Shirt Day, otherwise known as Anti-Bullying Day, is an annual event founded by two teenagers from Nova Scotia in 2007. These two boys bought 50 pink t shirts to disperse to their friends after a younger school mate was bullied on his first day for wearing a pink polo shirt. This show of support and solidarity didn’t go unnoticed and the Premier of Nova Scotia soon declared the second September of every year as “Stand Up Against Bullying Day”.
This one small action has now grown and changed into a movement celebrated across the country on the last Wednesday of each February, and across the globe on various other days throughout the year.
Having open conversations in the class about bullying and anti-bullying can bring an awareness that may not have previously been there to students. Arming students with supportive inclusivity and a place of safety will assist in giving them the confidence to stand up for themselves and others.
A great way to involve your students in the Pink Shirt movement is through art and expression.
You can have your students collaborate in decorating the classroom with pink shirts they’ve created either on a bulletin board or strung up as if on a clothesline.
Younger students can use a preprinted template and paint/colour their own pink shirt. They can add their own anti-bullying message in marker. You can print these shirt outlines and provide as a template for students to trace, encouraging the use of fine motor skills, or print and cutout the shirts ahead of time for each student.
Older students may enjoy doing a tie dye project and using fabric markers to add more decoration along with their own anti-bullying slogan.
If your school is open to it, it may even be fun to pair the older and younger students. Bring these art projects out of classroom into the school hallways with door decorating, let student’s creative minds run wild with kindness and how to pass it on- even if it’s just a sticky note passed along in the hall.
Please tag us on Instagram or X @Spectrum__edu to show off your school and art projects!
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