Screen-Free Week is an annual, international celebration when families, schools, and communities swap digital entertainment for the joys of life beyond the screen. Instead of watching TV, surfing the web, or playing with apps and video games, they read, play, think, create, get active, and spend more time with family and friends.
Remember, Screen-Free Week is about taking a break from digital entertainment. You can celebrate, and still use devices for work or school. But if screens of any kind interfere with family time (including meals), you may want to rethink how and when you’re using them.
WHY Celebrate? Regardless of whether children are consuming “good” or “bad” programming, it’s clear that digital entertainment dominates the lives of far too many kids, displacing all sorts of other activities that are integral to childhood. Excessive screen time is linked to poor school performance, childhood obesity, and attention problems. And it is primarily through screens that children are exposed to harmful marketing.
Screen-Free Week is a fun way to reduce our dependence on digital entertainment, including television, video games, smartphones, tablets, and computers. It’s a chance for children—and adults—to power down and reconnect with the world around them.
Here at Rainbow our 6th graders posted a large banner on the deck with some information about Screen Free Week. They even listed alternatives to screen time, promoting face-to-face conversations and interactions over electronic ones. The 6th graders will also write letters to Mountain Xpress, sharing some information about the importance of a “tech cleanse.”
Our children celebrated on Thursday with a little play and poetry about what peace means to them, led by our 4th grade class.
We met at the outdoor stage and the whole community gathered to hear about peace.
Our 4th grade students leading our Peace Assembly
The International Day of Peace is sanctioned by the United Nations who began to formulate this day as early as 1982. The UN General Assembly uses this day to encourage a day of cease-fire all over the world and asks all nations and all peoples to adopt or strengthen ideas of peace.
In 2001, with the help of James Gilley, a British citizen who petitioned world leaders to adopt and observe a day of peace, the UN ratified the 21st of September as the official International Day of Peace.
“On this International Day of Peace, let us pledge to teach our children the value of tolerance and mutual respect. Let us invest in the schools and teachers that will build a fair and inclusive world that embraces diversity. Let us fight for peace and defend it with all our might.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
At Rainbow Community School, we strive to uphold the virtues of tolerance and mutual respect.
Traditionally, the UN as well as many world leaders observe a minute of silence at 12 noon in all time zones.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has a Message for Peace on this day. (Click on the link to see his message.)
Ideas for Celebrating Peace Day
If you would like to participate in celebrating this day of peace with your child, there are many things you can do.
Light a candle with the help of an adult
Get a peace lily
Read about peacemakers
Adopt peace
Organize a peace march
Write a poem about peace
Make a peace crane
Print out some peace quotes and post them in your room/home
Make a peace chain
We are grateful for our 2025- 2026 sponsors
Rainbow Community School is enrolling for the 26-27 school year
