Safer Internet Day: Activities to Support Your Teaching

If you're looking for Safer Internet Day activities to help primary age children learn about online safety, then read on for a wealth of great ideas and free resources to help you plan.

 

What is Safer Internet Day 2023?

Safer Internet Day 2023 will be held on 7th February this year. It's a global event, celebrated each year in over 170 countries across the world, to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. Its aim is to inspire and inform conversation about the importance of being respectful and responsible online, how to use the Internet critically and creatively, and how to stay safe. 

Coordinated here in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, this important day is celebrated with a different theme each year. Safer Internet Day 2023 will focus on ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’. Schools will partake in a range of Safer Internet Day 2023 activities to celebrate this theme, and have lots of fun while teaching children critical digital literacy skills at the same time.

 

Why is Safer Internet Day important?

Our children are growing up in an increasingly digital world, and are spending more time online than ever before. Just as we teach them how to be good citizens in the real world, so they must also learn the foundations of digital citizenship. This includes protecting their wellbeing and their personal information, building resilience, using good judgment, and treating others with respect. The more online safety is openly talked about with our children, the more it will become an instinctive part of their life online - and that's where Safer Internet Day 2023 activities come in.

Taking part in Safer Internet Day 2023 is a wonderful way to raise awareness of the need to have open conversations about life online and how it makes us feel, with a fun event that children can share in alongside their peers throughout the UK and beyond. It's the perfect opportunity to bring online safety to the forefront of the school day, and to share these essential messages with the whole school community. 

 

Safer Internet Day 2023 activities 

This year's theme is all about putting children's voices at the forefront, encouraging them to talk about their lives online in order to help shape the support they receive - and there are some great Safer Internet Day 2023 activities that can help you do that. Here are some Safer Internet Day ideas to try:

Have fun and learn: enjoy FREE access to Natterhub's lessons

Here at Natterhub we absolutely love this year's theme. Encouraging open conversation about online safety is one of the pillars of our mission to help children become successful digital citizens, so this is aligned with many of the lessons and badges available on our social media learning platform. 

That's why we're offering FULL access to Natterhub activities, lessons and newsfeed scenarios available FREE for all users for two weeks. All you need to do is visit our Safer Internet Day 2023 activities page, and start planning for the big day. 

In particular, our 'Feel It' and 'Chat It' lessons teach primary aged children all about being kind and thoughtful when communicating with others online. Some examples of the fun and engaging lessons you'll be able to access include:

• Year 1 'Feel It': Be Kind and Caring - learning about the effects of kind and unkind behaviour on our emotions.
  
  
• Year 2 'Feel It': Sticks and Stones - looking at how bullying makes us feel.
  
  
• Year 3 'Feel It': Being Kind and Friendly Rules - examining how to behave online.
  
  
• Year 4 'Chat It': Positive Online Chat - exploring ways to communicate online.
  
  
• Year 5 'Feel It': Helping Our Friends - working out steps I can take to help someone who is experiencing unkind behaviour online.
  
  
• Year 6 'Think It': Is Everyone Welcome Online? - understanding inequality, prejudice and discrimination online. 
  
  

Share ideas: hold a Safer Internet Day assembly

Planning a Safer Internet Day assembly is a brilliant way of bringing the school together to share ideas about using the Internet safely. Making use of one of our interactive lessons would make for an engaging, visual assembly where children can answer questions and explore the theme of respect and relationships online. 

 

Explore understanding: use the Natterhub news feed 

This is a fun way for children to explore their understanding of this year's theme. Explore the many news feed scenarios to encourage children to engage with real-life online situations, and demonstrate their understanding of being safe and kind online.

 

Get thinking: complete a Safer Internet Day digital activity

Natterhub has gathered some of Childnet's Safer Internet Day activities and made them interactive! Post an activity to the news feed for pupils to complete using Natterhub's interactive whiteboard feature. Sort personal information, explore emojis and consider how best to respond to unkind statements online. 

 

Be creative: design a Safer Internet Day poster

Let kids get creative by coming up with some Safer Internet Day poster ideas that show possible online scenarios and who children should go to for support. Compare all the wonderful designs, and put them up around the school to help promote Safer Internet Day.

 

There are many exciting activities you can plan in school in support of Safer Internet Day 2023, and these are just a few examples. But whatever you choose, make sure you make it the best Safer Internet Day yet! 

 

More resources

Find out here about how Natterhub's unique lesson library can help you teach all aspects of online safety and media literacy, in line with national curriculum aims. 

Download free Safer Internet Day 2023 activities and lessons from the UK Safer Internet Centre here.

Find online safety worksheets, PowerPoints, poster templates, banners and more at Twinkl.