Once upon a time, in a land not-so-far away, there lived an evil man named Baron Bully Von Bad Guy. He along with Grub Mouth Gorro, Sly Hand Scyth and Thrax the Raider are creating problems in Bully Land. Not to fear, the brave Knights and smart Princesses of the Paradise Valley Boys & Girls Club are bringing peace and order to the land once again.

Based upon the popular children’s board game, Candy Land, Bully Land is a giant board game created by the youth development professionals at the PV Club to help address bully behavior.

“We wanted to give the kids tools to both recognize when they are being bullied and when they are being the bully,” said Nicole Arner, PV Club Director.

The game uses four main characters to illustrate common bully behavior.

 

Grub Mouth Gorro uses words to hurt others by saying mean jokes and hurtful remarks.
Sly Hand Scyth takes things that do not belong to him. He is greedy and hurts others with mean tricks
Thrax the Raider is a fighter who uses his strength and fists to push people around.
Baron Bully Von Bad Guy is the ultimate meanie by using hurtful words, taking things that aren’t his, and using his strength to hurt people.

The Club kids take on the role of the brave knights and princesses to save Bully Land from the poor behavior of the bullies.

“The children work together to prevent, deter, contain, isolate, and defuse bullying on their own,” said Josh MacDonald, PV Club program leader. “The goal is to not only teach kids how to handle a bully situation, but also self reliance and knowing when they may need adult intervention.”

Through this fun activity, both Nicole and Josh say they have seen the children embrace the lessons and have heard them use the concepts in their daily interactions. The ideas are also reinforced within other programming like Cowboy Ethics.