Online safety films to watch with your child

The summer is a great time to engage your child in online safety activities. We often hear that parents are looking for fun ways to explore online issues with their children. Getting children engaged through film is a great way to get them thinking about how they use the internet and can be used as useful conversation starters.

In this blog we look at some online safety films which may be useful for you to watch with your child, to engage them in various aspects of online safety education.

This year, the Childnet Film Competition, run as part of Childnet’s work in the UK Safer Internet Centre, invited young people to think about how we can all make a positive difference online by supporting young people to ‘Connect with respect’.

The winning films, judged by a team of judges from BAFTA, the BBC, BBFC and BFI, cover a host of online safety issues, from positive commenting to cyberbullying.

You can watch the films at www.Childnet.com/film-comp

BBC have recently launched their Own It website, which offers advice for young people about some issues that they may encounter online.

Dave Howard, BBC Own’s it Editor, explained more about what Own It wants to achieve:

‘BBC Own It is more about looking at the dos than the don’ts, we want young people to have a great time online, as technology plays a huge part in their lives.

We want them to understand the behaviour and strategies that they need to adopt in order to have a great and happy time online. Our website is designed for 9-11 year old to use in their own time, outside of schools, giving advice in a fun and engaging way.’

Here is some of the content that your child can view on BBC Own It.

Why not have an adventure with Captain Kara and her SMART Crew as they voyage through the online world.

These cartoons illustrate 5 e-safety SMART rules and include a real life SMART Crew of young people, who guide the cartoon characters in their quest, and help them make safe online decisions.