Celebrate National Child Day

Celebrate National Child Day - In Sneakers!
Activities that Promote Children’s Rights

The following activities are just a few of those developed to foster discussion and action with children, their parents and teachers. The activities are designed to follow a reading of one of the poems for child rights in the book If You Could Wear My Sneakers! by Sherri Fitch and Darcia Labrosse (1997, Doubleday Canada), in collaboration with UNICEF Canada.

Poem I
If You Could Wear My Sneakers
(Article 2: all rights apply to all children without exception)
This poem introduces the first article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – that all children have the same rights. But this universality of rights is also personal and individual. In the words of the poem, if we look hard and try to “see the me” in other people, we might find that we have at least as many similarities as differences.

Write a poem, short story or diary with the title, If You Could Wear My Sneakers. Then create a self-portrait. (Younger children can dictate their answers.)
For example: If you could wear my sneakers you would discover.., my name is........., I am ...... years old. I live in ............, my favourite colour is .................., my favourite thing to do is ................, I love to eat ..........., I have ............. in my family, sometimes I am sad about ............., sometimes I wonder about ..................., I always laugh about ..................., when I grow up I think I’ll be .............., if I were magic, I would ..................
End the story with: If you could wear my sneakers that’s what you would find out about me. But that’s still not all of me.

Get school-age children to research a country, city of part of town that is unfamiliar. Find out about the customs and traditions, and about daily life. Then have each child fill in the blanks in the above phrases as if they were a child in that place – putting themselves in someone else’s sneakers. This can lead to a discussion about sameness and differences of being human.

Poem II
Speaking of Speaking
(Article 30: children of minority and indigenous populations have the right to practice their own culture, religion and language)
We should cherish the language we have and recognize that some of the sounds we make – sneezing, laughing, singing – tell us that there is something we might call a human languages that connects us all.

Invent your own language by making up new words. Then provide a translation for your secret language so that others can share it. For example: Moola boola dingo trung means I’m going to go outside. Eena meena Doringog means how do you do? As silly as it seems, this exercise is great fun and gets everyone thinking about language and the sounds that words make.

Talk about the many ways animals talk. Bark, squeak, grow, neigh, baa.... Make a list and have fun matching it to animal pictures or words. Have an animal noise bingo game with the lists: someone can call off a noise and those with that animal on their card can check it off. Those who have all their animals called get BINGO!

Talk about the many sounds people make. Laughing, wheezing, whining, sneezing, yawning, singing, grumbling, muttering, whispering... Make a list and then create a sound tape where everyone makes each noise together on the list. Guaranteed to be a noisy and fun activity!

Poem III
Whoa!
(Article 19: children have the right to protection from abuse, neglect and violence.)
In this poem, a bat knows what is definitely not acceptable behaviour towards children. The poem is as much about empowerment as it is about being a victim of abuse.

Start off a poem or piece of writing with the title Things that bug me drive me batty!!!!
Continue with I don’t like it when... (someone pulls my hair)(someone calls me names). I don’t like (spinach)(tags on tee-shirts that itch your back.)
Counterbalance this with a list entitled: Things that make me smile!

Name or list ways that fights and arguments can start. Choose one of the situations from the poem “Whoa!” and act out the roles involved. After, talk about different ways to deal with conflict. This activity will also work with the poem, “The Eloquent Elephant”.

Walk through your neighbourhood and identify the places that are helpful for children (fire stations, health clinic, Block parents) and those that could be harmful or dangerous (poorly lit areas, refuse piles, busy intersections or parking lots).

Poem IV
The Gnu-Ewe-Cockatoo-Emu All Are Welcome Crew
(Article 15: children have the right to meet with others and to join or form associations)
Although this poem is about the right to join and form associations, this is not a very exclusive club! It’s about a sense of community that isn’t based on everyone being the same. The community gets better with each new and different member.

Find out and make lists of the names we call the different groups of animals: a herd of cows, a gaggle of geese, a pack of wolves.... Find out the names we call groups of people: a crowd, a bunch, a family, a gathering.....

Start an All-Are-Welcome Club for a shared activity: creative writing, promoting awareness about children’s rights, reading, snack time....

Poem V
The Stinky Truth
(Article 13: children have the right to obtain and share information, and to express ideas)
Some rights are meant to be used with care. The right to an opinion, like an onion, can cause tears if it is too strong.

Write a poem called You Wanna Know What I Think?
I think ..... (something about the sky)
I think ..... (something about death)
I think ..... (something about animals)
I think ..... (something about reading books)...
Don’t worry about rhyming your words: the point is to tell what you really think. Brainstorm times where you might have to tell a truth that hurts someone. Talk about how you can tell what you really think without hurting someone’s feelings.

Poem VI
Secrets
(Article 16: children have the right to protection from interference in privacy, family and home.)
Whisper the start of a story and whisper it from person to person around a circle. Talk about how the story ends up different from when it was started. Discuss what a rumour is, how rumours start, how they end, how they can hurt people and how they can be stopped.

Poem VII
And Who Are You?
(Article 6: children have the right to a name and a nationality)
It is always a surprise to people that there is an article in the Convention on the Rights of the Child that gives children the right to a name. In fact, a name can be as important to survival as water or food. A name is one of our most important possessions. It gives us a unique identity, and a belonging – to family, culture, country. Without a name, other rights cannot be protected. Children need names to get health care, go to school, and be found if they are lost. A name and nationality prevent a child from falling into the blind spot of the world.

A name is worth a thousand words. It is a piece of family history, a clue to cultural traditions, a source of self-esteem. Write a folk tale or fairy tale that tells you how you got your name. You might also make up tales like “How the leopard got its spots.”

Get children to find out the story of their name. Draw a symbol that represents each name and other aspects of their “identity” on a flag, a tee-shirt or a kite.

Explore the naming traditions and ceremonies of other cultures.

Poem VIII
The Way It Is
(Article 23: disabled children have the right to special care to enjoy a full life in dignity)
You have to turn some things upside down and inside out. The concept of “disability” or “differently abled” is one of those things. Most disabilities exist in our own minds rather than in other people’s physical differences.

Discuss together ways that your centre, school or community has made it easier for children with disabilities to become part of it. What further improvements are necessary to ensure that such children can join in the full life of the school and neighbourhood? How do people’s attitudes make a difference?

Help UNICEF help kids
What can you do to help protect the rights of children? You can pledge to help “keep the promise” by respecting the rights of children. In developing countries, children are helping other children to secure their rights with some help from UNICEF. Order and hang a copy of a poster about children’s rights in your child care setting.

This article was excerpted from a children’s poster developed by UNICEF: United Nations Children’s Fund with the cooperation of the Canadian International Development Agency. For a copy of the poster or for more information or resources on the Convention, contact your provincial UNICEF office or UNICEF Canada at 443 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, Ontario, M45 2L8. For additional activities on children’s rights, visit the global schoolhouse at www.unicef.ca.

Interaction, Vol. 15, No. 3, Fall 2001, p. 6-7.