Information About Children & Violence || Video Game & Movie Reviews
Student Activities || Books for Parents
Organizations || The Playground (Fun Toys & Games to Make!)

Information About Children and Violence

• American Psychological Association (APA)
  - Potential Warning Signs for Violence in Children
  - Raising Non-Violent Kids
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
  - Some Things You Should Know About Media Violence and Media Literacy
• Action Alliance for Children (AAC)
  - What Do Children Learn from Media Violence?
• National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
  - Beyond Banning War and Superhero Play

Video Game & Movie Reviews

• Screen it!
  This site rates movies based on 15 different criteria including blood/gore, frightening/tense scenes and guns/weapons.
• National Institute on Media and The Family
  This site features KidScore, an innovative and family-friendly ratings system for video and computer games as well as movies.
• Kids-In-Mind
  Movie critics who are also parents review movies and give descriptions of amount of violence/gore as well as sex/nudity and profanity in each movie.
• Movie Mom
  The Movie Mom, Nell Minow, offers her own reviews and has links to several other movie review sites.

Student Activities

• "Bang Bang You're Dead"
  Written by award-winning playwright William Mastrosimone, this 40-minute play uses elements of the Springfield, Oregon shooting in May of 1998 as a jumping-off point for a cautionary tale about school violence.  The freely downloadable play requires a minimum of 11 actors, and little in the way of production values.
• Peace Games
  Peace Games works to create safe elementary schools by mobilizing college volunteers to collaborate with teachers, students, and parents. Through role-playing, games, and community service projects, Peace Games challenges the leaders of tomorrow to become the peacemakers of today.
• Toy Trade-Ins
  Toy Trade-Ins are events where children bring in their violent toys in exchange for nonviolent toys or coupons for toys and treats. Older students can coordinate these events at elementary schools or community centers.

Books for Parents and Kids

• Books about What Parents Can Do To Protect Children from Media Violence

• Books about Non-Violent, Age-Appropriate Toys

• Books for Parents about Resolving Family Conflicts Peacefully

• Age-Appropriate Children's Books about Resolving Conflicts Peacefully

Organizations

Nonviolence

• The Nonviolence Web
  A Guide to the Contemporary Peace Movement.
• Join Together Online
  A project of the Boston University School of Public Health, is a national resource for communities working to reduce substance abuse and gun violence.

Marketing

• The Merchants of Cool
  The Merchants of Cool is a PBS Frontline report on the creators and marketers of popular culture for teenagers.

Media Literacy

• Media Matters
  Part of the American Academy of Pediatrics web site, this page has links to helpful articles about kids and media violence. There are also action alerts and policy statements.
• Center for Media Education
  A national nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a quality electronic media culture for children and youth, their families and the community.
• Girls, Women + Media Project
  An initiative working to increase awareness of how pop culture and media represent, affect, employ, and serve girls and women---and to advocate for improvement in those areas. The Project also seeks to educate and empower all consumers and citizens about consumer rights and responsibilities regarding the media, and to promote universal media literacy.
• Mediascope
  Mediascope is a national, nonprofit public policy organization founded in 1992 to promote constructive depictions of health and social issues in the media, particularly as they relate to children and adolescents.
• Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME)
  ACME is a nationwide network of media educators and activists dedicated to creating positive changes in media education through activism.

Positive Play

• TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment)
  An organization of early childhood professionals that works to promote a positive play environment for children.

Legislation

• The Child-Responsible Media Campaign offers a legislative tracking web site that chronicles all legislation related to marketing media violence to children on both the national and the State level.

The Playground!

• Recipes for Goop and Playdough
• Shoe Box Gift Ideas