Increasing Teacher/Parent Awareness of Developmentally Appropriate Movies for 3-6 Year Olds through Use of a Rating Scale.

This practicum identified a lack of standards for movie viewing by children age 3 through 6 at a preschool child care center, and proposed a rating scale to determine the suitability of videotaped films. Staff and parents of students seemed unaware of potential long-term adverse affects of some movies, such as desensitizing children to violence, providing stereotypes that children will imitate or model, and possibly fostering misconceptions. A rating scale was developed that graded films on theme content, production quality, violence, language/role modeling, and stereotypes. A rating of at least 81 out of a possible score of 100 was considered the minimum for recommended viewing. Forty movie videos and television programs were rated, with the results dispersed to parents and staff at the center. Twelve of the 40 movies and program received a score of 81 or higher. It was noted that some movies produced by the Disney Corporation and other family-orientated distributors did not meet the minimum score, even though the films were geared toward preschoolers. (Three appendixes provide a list of familiar movies for 3- to 6-year-olds, a movie rating tally sheet, and the ratings of 40 movies and television programs.) (MDM)