A Week of Rediscovery
Are you ready to change your family’s relationship with screens?
Join us for Screen-Free Week, a global invitation the first week in May to take a break from entertainment screens and experience more peace, connection, and fun!
Anyone can participate! Simply choose the platforms/apps/devices most problematic for you or your family, set a goal (take an hour off, a day, or the whole week!) and enjoy the free time that opens!
If you’re part of a school, library, faith-based institution, or organization, we invite you to host a Screen-Free Week celebration and enjoy the week in community!
Past groups have planned pool parties, nature hikes, craft nights, author readings, and concerts. The opportunities are endless!
This website has all the resources you’ll need for a successful Screen-Free Week, like our event planning guides, library of free event downloads, and blog. To receive even more perks, tips, incentives, and support, join our Screen-Free Week mailing list!
Our Screen-Free Week story
Spending time on screens can be particularly harmful to kids who need creative play to thrive. That’s why Henry Labalme and Matt Pawa created TV Turnoff Week in 1994.
In 2010, TV Turnoff Week became Screen-Free Week, finding a new home at Fairplay through December 2024. On January 1, 2025, the American Association for the Child’s Right to Play, also known as the USA affiliate of the International Play Association (IPA USA), was honored to assume the reins and continue the mission.
Thirty years later, we’re wiser about kids and screens… but also facing more complex problems.
In the past, we were concerned about kids being a captive audience for the marketing of products on TV. Today, our kids have become the product-their attention, their preferences, their connections, their content, their locations are all being captured, tracked, bought, and sold between tech giants and brands worldwide.
Our goal is to monitor and educate the community about this new reality and to advocate for kids to have the dignity of privacy and play. Taking even a small break from screens the first week in May (or, whenever works best for you) is how to begin that journey.
What People Are Saying
“I saw my 9-year-old daughter laying on the floor, just daydreaming. I immediately thought, ‘Oh no, she is bored, maybe she could…’ then I stopped myself and just let her lay there. She wasn’t bored, just deep in thought. We don’t always have to be doing something!”
Kim G., Ivins, UT
“When my house had no TV, computer and video games, all I did was read, until one day I dreamed big about becoming a writer. Loving to read gave me an idea to write my own book.”
Anthony, 11, New York
“I wanted to play on my screen, then I thought of something I really wanted to do – play with my friends.”
Damien, first grade, Massachusetts
Who is the team behind Screen-Free Week?
The American Association for the Child’s Right to Play is the USA affiliate (IPA USA) of the International Play Association, an interdisciplinary organization providing advocacy and resources for the promotion of play opportunities. IPA USA is part of a global network dedicated to promoting the child’s right to play. Guided by Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), IPA USA has developed a Vision, Mission, and Guiding Principles to support those advocacy efforts.
Dr. Debra L. Lawrence
Debra L. Lawrence has over 45 years of experience in early care and education. While living in Germany, she began her early childhood career as an aide in a Department of Defense Kindergarten classroom. When her family returned to the States, she began as a sub at a local childcare program and progressed to become a teacher, then lead teacher, and then director. She directed programs for 13.5 years, taught kindergarten, and then became the executive director of a childcare resource and referral agency responsible for five counties in Colorado. As Executive Director, she advocated for early care and education, provided grants to improve the quality of childcare, conducted professional development for the childcare community, and linked families with childcare in the five-county region. In Pennsylvania, Debra was the Director of the Southeast Regional Key located in Philadelphia, PA. Each regional key is the operations hub for Pennsylvania’s Quality Rating and Improvement System, Keystone STARS. Debra is a tenured faculty member at Delaware County Community College, where she teaches in the birth to 4th grade teacher education preparation program.
She has presented workshops and seminars at the international, national, state, and local levels. Debra’s leadership positions include Colorado AEYC President, Governor-Appointed Early Childhood School Readiness Legislative Committee member, and NAEYC Governing Board Member. She is currently the President of the American Association for the Child’s Right to Play, the International Play Association’s USA affiliate.
With Gratitude to FairPlay
Screen-Free Week would not be what it is today without the dedication of Rachel Franz, M.Ed., and Jean Rogers, M.S. Ed., of Fairplay. As Fairplay’s Education Manager, Rachel guided Screen-Free Week with a deep commitment to helping children and families find meaningful connection in a media-heavy world, drawing on her years as an early childhood educator and her work championing outdoor, play-based learning. Jean, Director of Fairplay’s Screen Time Action Network and author of Kids Under Fire, has spent more than fifteen years writing, speaking, and building a coalition of educators, advocates, and parents working to reduce children’s excessive screen use.
We are grateful to them both for their advocacy, their leadership, and their generosity in sharing the resources that helped countless families, schools, and communities celebrate Screen-Free Week. Their work laid the foundation we continue to build on, and we thank them wholeheartedly.