Screen-Free Week Events from 2016

by | Nov 10, 2016 | Uncategorized

Whether you’ve been participating in Screen-Free Week since it was known as TV Turnoff Week, or this is your first year, taking a break from TV, laptops, smartphones, and video games is easier–not to mention more fun–when you’re taking a break with others!  Going screen-free means more options than just reading a good book (though that’s certainly one great way to enjoy the week).

Here are just a few of the great events that happened throughout the country. Use them for inspiration! Planning something for 2017? Register your week and we’ll list it!

  • In Charlotte County, FL, Healthy Charlotte and community partners are offering a variety of family-friendly activities throughout the week, including craft nights and a kids’ fishing tournament!
  • On, Monday, May 2nd, Waldorf School of Moraine Farm in Beverly, MA will be hosting a screening of the documentary “Screenagers”.  More information and tickets can be found here.
  • The Brandon Township Public Library in Ortonville, MI will be holding a Screen-Free Week Celebration Lock-in on Friday, May 6th, an all-ages evening of cards, crafts, games, and snacks.
  • Let’s Move! Missoula has partnered with local organizations to provide free and low-cost events for the community throughout Screen-Free Week, including the Let’s Move! Missoula: Unplug and Play! kickoff event on Sunday, May 1st, with over 20 fun outdoors activities for kids.
  • The City of Lafayette, CO will be providing K-12 students free passes to the Bob L. Burger Recreation Center, and students can turn in their completed Screen-Free Week activity logs for an award and free book courtesy of the Lafayette Public Library!
  • Villa Villekula Neighborhood Toy Store in Fernandina Beach, FL will be hosting its 2nd Annual Screen-Free Week with a kick-off party and activities throughout the week. Those that take the screen-free pledge qualify for discounts at local businesses.
  • Among several activities, the LeDuc Historic Estate in Hastings, MN will kick off the week with Photography Day and celebrate the week’s end with a Mother’s Day high tea.
  • Students at Cottage Street Elementary in Sharon, MA will commit to going screen free and will be encouraged to spend time with family and friends, playing outside and doing creative projects.
  • Des Plaines Parks in Des Plaines, IL have some great activities planned for the week, including an ice cream social and a campfire night.
  • Alabama Waldorf School in Birmingham, AL will be taking their students on an afternoon hike of Ruffner Mountain, hold a school-wide singalong and have a teacher-student game of Space Ball.
  • The Charlotte County Library System in Port Charlotte, FL is holding a family game night at its Mid-County Regional branch on May 4th and afternoon story and craft time at the Englewood-Charlotte Library on May 6th.
  • The West Chicago Park District in West Chicago, IL is offering community members a variety of screen-free activities as part of its Healthy West Chicago Initiative.
  • Pre-K through 6th grade students and staff at Maplewood Elementary School in Austin, TX are going screen-free for the week with a poetry celebration, Cinco de Mayo, and an open mic night.
  • The Greater Pulaski, NY area has been celebrating Screen-Free Week for the past 8 years. This year, libraries, historical societies, and civic organizations in the area will be hosting volunteer projects, a zine-making class, and an amphibian adventure hike.
  • Kids World at the Eisenhower Public Library in Harwood, IL will have books, screen-free ideas, activities, and challenges available for all K-6 students who stop by the Kids Desk.
  • In Ithaca, NY, the Ithaca Youth Bureau will be working with their community to help kids unplug and play! Find out more on their Facebook page, or click here for a full list of events.
  • In Newburry, FL, all 102 students at Healthy Learning Academy will be going Screen-Free! Healthy Learning Academy has been participating in Screen Free Week for the past 10 years, and are always excited to hear about the many activities families participate in with their “new found” time! For more about their celebrations, see their Facebook page.
  • Dancing Bear Toys with locations in Ashville and Hendersonville, NC is sponsoring its 20th annual Screen-Free Week, offering free play days everyday after school and partnering with local businesses to offer a variety of screen-free activities!
  • The Hockessin Library in Hockessin, DE is celebrating the week with a scavenger hunt, Lego club, and preschool game day.
  • Northfield Elmentary School in Ellicott City, MD has been incorporating lessons about the harms of too much screen time and encouraging their students to bike to school, take fitness walks during recess, and taking sensory play breaks throughout the day.
  • Malletts Bay School in Colchester, VT is celebrating its sixth annual Screen-Free Week where students can commit to different levels of screen-free participation to earn certificates and prizes.
  • Canterbury Elementary in Crystal Lake, IL is celebrating with a literacy game night and ice cream social.
  • Franklin Academy K-5 will be discussing alternatives to screen time and encouraging families to participate.
  • Classrooms at Meadowbrook Elementary School in Golden Valley, MN will be competing to see which class logs the least amount of screen time and which class finds the most creative screen-free activity to do.
  • K-5 students at the Kids 1st Afterschool Program in Crescent, CA will be participating in engaging, after school activities that will include physical fitness, enrichment, science, art and reader’s theater projects. The week will end with a family activity night where the students teach family members how to play traditional parlor games from the 1950’s.
  • PS 102 in Brooklyn, NY is celebrating its 14th Screen-Free Week with students discussing screen use and taking the screen-free pledge in class
  • Carmel Mountain Preschool in San Diego, CA is distributing “1,000 books to read before kindergarten” posters and stamps to keep track to all students for Screen-Free Week.
  • LearningWorks AfterSchool in Waterboro, ME is celebrating National Screen Free week by hosting a Family Game Night. Traditional board games will be available, as well as game show type games, and minute to win it games.
  • Sunset Hills Elementary in Omaha, NE has a “Get Active” theme for Screen-Free Week, with a Bike rally and Taco ride, outdoor games, skating party, fun run, and prizes!
You’re doing WHAAAAT?

You’re doing WHAAAAT?

by | Jun 1, 2016 | Uncategorized

By Julie Williams, Ed. Sp., Grand Blanc West Middle School, Michigan

It was an unusual week for some 8th graders in Julie Williams’ class at Grand Blanc West Middle School in Michigan. They started the week prior to May 2 by logging their activities for seven days. Most people noticed what a large part technology played in their lives. Then the challenge was issued, and 30 brave students and families tried going screen free for seven days! Raffle winnings were drawn all week to keep students dedicated to their endeavor. The group met at lunch to commiserate and think of things to do without their beloved devices. They also met one evening to bowl the old fashioned way by keeping track of their own scores! Last, Mrs. Williams threw a Celebration Party at lunch after the week was over for all those who finished the challenge. She followed through with her promise and downed a live goldfish for only those special participants. All her students reported that her “golden promise” was what kept them motivated until the end. Way to go West!

Who’s controlling your child’s narrative?

by | Apr 14, 2016 | Uncategorized

From better health to better learning to better connections with family and friends, there are so many reasons to celebrate Screen-Free Week. Here’s another: reducing kids’ screen time is the primary way that parents can safeguard children from corporate marketers.

Marketers want 24/7 access to our children so they can sell them things they don’t need. In fact, children are overwhelmed with more than 5,000 advertising impressions per day—many of which are coming at them in rapid succession via the screens in their lives. Buying all that stuff can diminish a child’s wellbeing, particularly when the products marketed to kids are so often junk food and junk toys that can harm a child’s health and creativity.

Screens also allow marketers to sell kids on the false message that buying things will make them happy. In fact, there is a growing body of evidence that the opposite is true: The desire to spend and consume is actually associated with lower levels of happiness. Hitting the pause button on screen time for one week (or longer) will give you an opportunity to reassess the situation and think about who is (and who should be) shaping your child’s narrative.

We recognize that screens are such a big part of our culture and routines that unplugging for a week might seem intimidating. That’s why CCFC has created a great list of screen-free activities and other tips to make the week rewarding and fun. You can find all this and more at www.screenfree.org.

Here’s to a proactive Screen-Free Week and a less commercialized childhood,

Nathan Dungan

CCFC Board Member & President of Share Save Spend

A Fourth Grader’s Perspective on Screen Time

A Fourth Grader’s Perspective on Screen Time

by | Apr 14, 2016 | Uncategorized

This month, I had my students write what I called “Activist Poems.” We brainstormed a variety of social issues that affect both adults and children. The list had a variety of topics from smoking to terrorism to homelessness. My contribution to the list was screen-time. As I read all of my students’ poems, I found that one student, Oula, chose this topic to write about. All of my students’ poems were powerful, but I felt this one needed to be shared. Here is a 4th grader’s perspective on screen-time:

I am against kids having too much screen time

I wonder what makes tech so appealing

I hear beeps and blinks from a million iPads

I see parents neglecting their kids, telling them to watch TV.

I want people to socialize more, face to face, not through Facebook or Instagram

I am a rebel against your X-box and Wii.

I dream of children just going outside to play.

I feel that you should shut your laptop for just a little while.

I touch the minds of children zoned out through Madden Mobile, Halo, Minecraft, and YouTube.

I say that turning up your ear buds is tuning out your world.

I help kids see that a book page is better than a Kindle screen.

I am fighting toys and games against your device.

Your Favorite Screen-Free Week Moments

Your Favorite Screen-Free Week Moments

by | May 13, 2013 | Uncategorized

We asked Screen-Free Week 2013 participants for their favorite moments and insights. Here are some of our favorite responses. 

“I saw my 9-year-old daughter laying on the floor, just day dreaming. 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

“We never got bored…we read a lot of books…the kids’ imaginations went wild with free play.”

–Sarah R., St. Paul, MN

“I liked hearing my kids tell my husband to turn off the TV, because it was Screen-Free Week!”

-Ruthanne Van Buren, Office Assistant at School Based Health Care in South Kortright, NY

“My 5-year-old and I were discussing how nice it was to be screen-free last week, how freeing it is to show our dominance over our computers and electronics (rather than vice-versa). He actually seemed to understand it.”

-Rinny Y., Mother

“My personal favorite SFW moment is the pride I see in the students’ eyes when they tell you about something they did that they wouldn’t have done otherwise.”

–Linda, librarian

“My favorite screen-free moment was when one night, my two children (ages 6 and 9) spontaneously decided to do a giant painting outside…they splattered and whacked – very Jackson Pollock-like!”

-Anonymous

“One of my students entered a class where she was told to get out her computer to work. She told the sub she was not allowed to use the computer because she had signed up for Screen-free Week and she could only read on her Kindle. The sub informed her it too was a screen and sent her to me. I informed her that Screen-free Week applied to outside of class time. She looked so disappointed.”

-Sandra Stiles

“[I enjoyed] parent stories regarding how different their days were with the television off. They were awakened!”

-Jean Goulart, MA, Owner/Program Director of Bundle of Joy Preschool Childcare

“[I enjoyed] finally completing a 1000 piece puzzle with my seven and five year old (it was rather ambitious and took us all week!”

-Sue Fisher, parent, Hayhurst School Wellness Committee

“[I enjoyed] the discussions about what else you can do – and the feedback from parents who heard from their kids when they pulled out their cell phones or their computers – pretty hilarious. The message made it home!”

-Kyla Sweet, Seattle

“Our principal comes in to reward the class with a fun dance (the jitterbug) if we get 100% participation!”

–Anonymous

“It was great to see families playing games with one another at the Family Fun Game Night we hosted. It looked like quality time well spent with one another.”

-Amanda Radzik, Children and Weight Coalition Coordinator

“We went to a fun park, the playground at the mall, the canyon, visited a pet store and tried to play outside more.”

-Anonymous

Give Me a (Screen) Break

by | Apr 26, 2013 | Uncategorized

Hi, I’m Koa Halpern. I am 15 years old, and I started my own nonprofit when I was 10. My nonprofit is called Fast Food Free, and its goal is to get people to eat less fast food through education and community awareness, which results in healthier people and a better world.

In the United States, kids spend tons of time watching television; many kids watch TV over 4 hours every day. Much of this time is spent watching commercials. Fast food products are mainly advertised through TV. Food products and fast food commercials are shown more than any other type of advertisement. If kids reduce the time they are watching tv, they see less commercials. Less commercials leads to a reduction in fast food, resulting in healthier kids.

Additionally, fast food poses huge problems for the environment. It takes 55 square feet of rainforest to make a single McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. 80% of the ammonia released into the air comes from animal digestion and waste. Every second, the equivalent of a football field of rainforest is destroyed to make room for the 17 billion livestock that are populating our planet. This harms the planet, so Fast Food Free is encouraging you to go Screen-Free and Fast Food Free for a week.

Spring: it’s the time when the weather takes a break from winter and when students get a break from school. It’s the perfect time for you to take a break from that TV and computer that have been keeping you hypnotized for the past few months. Although TV shows and computer games can be entertaining, students are bombarded with a lot of arguably worthless content: things that make us laugh or shudder, but aren’t useful in improving our knowledge or preparing us to be good citizens. On the contrary, we are regularly being exposed to sex, violence, inappropriate language, and reality shows that are mostly an escape from reality.

For many families, TV has become a part of the family, with 66 percent of Americans watching TV during meals. Instead of dinner being a “check in” time to see how everyone is doing and what is taking place, we focus on someone else’s lives and neglect our own well-being. TV (and computer as well!) can convince us that our lives are boring, while the lives of others, those on the screen, are adventurous and exciting. “Oh, if we could only be like them! Pass the sugar please.”

Constant exposure to the computer and TV does more than just make us zombies; it makes us consumers, too. A study in TV Week reported that 33 percent of television viewers want to purchase something they saw on TV, with 26 percent following through on that purchase.  TV viewers are the “target” audience for fast food companies, the latest fashions, the fastest cars, and “beauty” products intended to make younger people look more mature, and older people look younger. Yes, Give Me A Break. Give us all a break.

For one week, April 29 to May 5th, how about going outside to enjoy spring instead of watching TV and playing video games? Hike, ride, walk, climb, run. How about having a meaningful family discussion during dinner? How about taking up a new hobby, or revisiting an existing one that’s been put on the shelf? The possibilities are endless. Who knows, you may find that as your brain clears and the fog lifts, your newly discovered reality, the real reality, is better than any show out there.

Koa Halpern is a 15-year-old blogger, activist and founder of Fast Food Free.