Pass these digital citizenship activities along to families or use them in your classroom.
When it comes to digital citizenship, we all play a part in how kids understand and apply its principles. Devices influence all areas of our lives, so it only makes sense to approach digital literacy and well-being from all angles as well.
So, while schools and educators can contribute in a wide variety of ways, parents and caregivers need to participate, too. Aside from our Family and Community Engagement program and our free resources dedicated to helping families navigate digital life, we also offer activities that adults and kids can do together.
These activities align with the concepts in our curriculum and offer a variety of approaches. And they're not just for home use! Try them in your classroom to reinforce concepts and start conversations.
Let's start with our family activities aligned with our new Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum!
If you scanned a QR code on an activity card, you're in the right place! If you're a parent or caregiver, you can scroll down to that section, and make sure to check out Common Sense Media for more family-focused resources.
Family Activity Game Cards
Educators:
These family activity cards are based on some popular verbal games—often with a twist. They're rooted in the concepts in our Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum. The purpose is to start discussions in authentic, fun ways and encourage sharing (including for the adults!).
Each card has a fact, a prompt, and a follow-up question. See below for the premise of each game. You can pass these along to families, use them in your own classroom, or distribute them for lunchtime conversation starters. Consider printing for families who may not have easy access to a printer (though reading from a device is fine, too!). Though they're divided by grade level, you can share and use the cards that you think best fit your students' age, stage, and online experiences.
Parents & Caregivers:
Our Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum covers the topics that kids need to learn about, from being safe and kind online to protecting their own well-being, maintaining healthy relationships, using AI responsibly, identifying credible information online, and much more. We've taken those topic areas and transformed them into family activity cards that are based on verbal games—often with a twist. (Click one of the links below to learn how each game works.) Each card has a fact, a prompt, and a follow-up question. Since families have different rules and expectations around media and tech, use the cards that best apply to your family, no matter the target grade level.
The purpose of these activities is to start discussions in fun, authentic ways and to encourage sharing (including for the adults). The questions might lead to deeper discussions—or not! Either way, the goal is to nurture empathy, lead with curiosity, and have ongoing conversations that acknowledge we're all in this together.
You can print them out and cut them apart or just read them from the screen—whatever works for you. They're meant to be easy to use at home or on the go. And if you feel inspired, come up with some of your own!
Common Sense Media Carpool Conversations
This audio series features the same content as the game cards (above), but it features an adult-child pair who briefly discuss the prompts and then invite listeners to do the same. Use these on the go or for classroom warm-ups—your commute, waiting in line, as a bellringer, and more! Let them get you started, and then dig deeper if possible.
For more family-focused resources, like reviews and parent advice, visit Common Sense Media on our site or app!
And you can always visit our Family Engagement Resources page to find more activities, tip sheets, tech planners, videos, and more!
