Kids, families, schools, and communities pledge to turn off screens and turn on life.
- School-age children spend nearly twice as many hours with screen media such as television, video games, computers, and hand-held devices as they do in school.
- Television use is at an all-time high among preschoolers—according to Nielsen, young children spend, on average, more than 24 hours a week watching TV.
- Screen time is habituating and linked to poor school performance, childhood obesity, poor sleep habits and attention problems.
- Forty percent of 3-month-old infants are regular viewers of television and DVDs—even though the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under two.
Children are spending way too much time with screens—and it's not good for them. That’s why more than 60 leading health, education, and childcare organizations actively support this year’s Screen-Free Week (April 18-24, 2011), the annual celebration where children, families, schools and communities turn off screens and turn on life.
Some ideas for your family on things to do besides turning on the screen:
- Head out to the park
- Go for a hike, walk, run, bike ride
- Game Night with family
- Bake cookies. brownies, cakes
- Cook dinner as a family
- Start a puzzle
- Head to the library to browse and check out books, attend one of their events
- Go to a toy store and just play!
- Get the garden going and have your kids help plant
- Read, draw, write
- Have a camp out in your backyard, complete with a tent and s'mores
- Head to the ball park and watch a Little League Game
- And of course, use the Macaroni Kid Calendar to find plenty to do!!!!
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