BOULDER, Colo., Feb. 27, 2025 -- Starfall Education Foundation is surpassing its goal of 70 million acts of kindness today.
Stephen Schutz, Chairman and Founder of Starfall, says that the interactive activity was developed to encourage understanding, respect and anti-bullying. "I'm overjoyed at the incredible success! It is gratifying to see millions of kids from around the world thinking about kindness in their daily lives," Schutz said.
By far the most popular example of kindness selected by children is, "Cheer up someone who is sad."
The creative, unique Starfall™ interactive exhibit debuted this January at Wonderscope Children's Museum of Kansas City and Leonardo's Children's Museum in Enid, Oklahoma. A huge interactive screen is updated in real-time, every second, with Acts of Kindness. Children create their own avatar, select an act of kindness, and are excited to see a virtual card instantaneously appear along with acts of kindness from other children.
"Kiddos really like it. I hear the sounds from my office," said Charlet Ringwald, Executive Director of Leonardo's.
Seven years ago, Starfall published an anti-bullying guide for teachers and parents with role-playing ideas and other suggestions to encourage understanding and respect. That is when the acts of kindness interactive activity was released.
Starfall was founded in 2002 by Dr. Stephen Schutz, who had difficulty learning to read as a child. It provides free and low-cost educational games, books, and movies where children have fun learning and gain self-confidence.
Over the years, Starfall expanded to include math and other subjects for preK-5. In 2015, after supporting the project as a social enterprise for over a decade, Stephen Schutz, Susan Polis Schutz, and their family contributed Starfall to become a 501(c)(3) organization.
But with success comes difficulties as large companies started using the Starfall name. To protect its reputation, Starfall brought claims alleging that its name had been unlawfully hijacked. In 2024, when Universal Studios (parent Comcast Corp) allegedly started using the STARFALL trademark to sell tickets to theme parks with violent games, Starfall filed a lawsuit in Federal court to stop them. This was resolved when Universal abandoned, with prejudice its USPTO Trademark Application. More recently, Level Infinite (parent Tencent), allegedly started using the STARFALL trademark to promote extremely violent computer games and collect personal data from children. Again, Starfall was forced to file a complaint in Denver Federal Court this month.
Starfall continues to create a kind, safe environment where "children have fun while they learn." An undergraduate at Stanford University recently wrote, "I truly believe that Starfall set the foundation for my future."
Note: The screenshot of the Starfall Worldwide Acts of Kindness Counter taken yesterday, Feb 26, at 4:40pm PST displays a count of 69,963,145. Contact us to get the current screenshot for Feb 27 that will show a count over 70,000,000.
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