Early YearsCelebrate Children’s Week! Activities and inspiration

Children’s Week is a celebration of all the things that make children special. It is a chance for the community to gather and recognise the unique talents, rights and achievements of children.

How to use this bookletThis year’s Children’s Week

National Theme for 2021 is based on UNCRC Article 15.

Children have the right to choose their own friends and safely

connect with others.Understanding Article 15This year’s theme celebrates Article 15 - Children have the right to choose their own friends and safely connect with others.

Early YearsGuiding children to be able to make friends and connect with others is a process that starts from their first social experiences. From learning to share in Early Childhood centres and Mother’s Groups, to taking turns on the swings – children learn to form and foster friendships through trial and error and roleplaying. For parents and carers, stepping back and allowing children time to explore the ups and downs of early friendships is important to build friendship skills that will be needed in primary school and beyond.

Parents and carers can support children to choose their own friends in early childhood by:

Respecting children’s choices

Giving children the freedom to choose their own friends

Teaching children the skills of being a good friend – taking turns, sharing, listening, being empathic

Allowing children space to choose their interests

Being a cheerleader – not leading children’s activities.

Children’s Week celebrates the right of children to enjoy their childhood.

This booklet contains ideas and activities that can be used across a range of settings – from early childhood centres, schools, libraries, community groups to home based learning settings.

The activities are designed to be open-ended, so they can easily be adapted depending on the resources, time, and abilities of the children in your setting.

The activities are designed to be flexible – use some ideas together with your regular activities or plan a series of sessions that build up to a larger celebration at the end of the week – it’s up to you.

Celebrating Children’s Week as a community is a great way to share the messages of Children’s Week with the wider community, raising awareness of children’s rights and the work of the UNCRC.

Every child is special and should have a safe, happy and healthy upbringing.

The United Nations, along with countries around the world, developed a set of rights to help every child reach their full potential. This document is known as ‘The Convention on the Rights of the Child’.

Talk to the children about their rights and explain why they are important.

Why are Children’s Rights important?

Younger children (3-12)Here are some simple examples for discussion:

to be treated fairly no matter what

to have a say about decisions affecting you

to grow up healthy in a clean environment

to live with your family

to be safe no matter where you are

to get an education

to play and have fun!

This short video from UNICEF Australia explains the meaning of ‘rights’ in a fun and engaging way: youtube.com/watch?v=V1BFLitBkco

These rights apply to all children from around the world.

What are Children’s Rights?

You have the right to live and grow up healthy

You have a right to live with your parents as long they look after you well

You have the right to be heard

You have the right to special care if you have been badly treated

You have the right to be raised by both of your parents and this should be supported by the government

You have the right to be given news and information, and it should be told to you in a way that you can understand

Children who live in a different country to either of their parents have the right to get back together as a family

If your family cannot look after you, you have the right to be looked after by people who respect your religion, culture and language

You have the right to a registered name and nationality

You have the right to clean water, healthy food and a clean environment

You have the right to be treated fairly and respectfully

You have the right to privacy

You have the right to support from the government if your family doesn’t have much money

You have the right to an education

Children who come to Australia as a refugee from another country have the same rights as children who were born in Australia

You have the right to rest, play and join in with lots of different types of activities

If you are disabled, you have the right to special care and support

You have the right to remain in your country

You have the right to meet other children by joining groups

You have the right to be protected from violence

You have the right to express yourself as long as you don’t hurt others

If you don’t live with your parents, you have the right to have your care reviewed often

If you have been adopted, what is best for you is most important

You have the right to enjoy your culture, no matter where you are from

If you break the law, you have the right to be treated fairly and not be put in prison with adults

Some resources to help children learn more about Children’s Rights

Share picture story books on children’s rights

I Have the Right to Be a Child by Alain Serres and illustrated by Aurélia Fronty

Welcome by Barroux

There’s a Bear on My Chair by Ross Collins

Alfie’s Big Wish by David Hardy

The Little Corroboree Frog by Tracey Holton-Ramirez and illustrated by Angela Ramirez

Respect by Fay Stewart-Muir Sue Lawson and illustrated by Lisa Kennedy

The Mighty Girl website (https://www.amightygirl.com/) has aged based and thematic book recommendations for social justice issues.

Your school or community librarians should also be able to guide you on book ideas.

Social and environmental justice events such as:

the 40-hour famine

hosting a walk-a-thon for an environmental cause

Clean Up Australia Day

Host a book drive

Donate books to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Celebrate with a song

Celebrate with the Children’s Week song, ‘Children of Australia’. The song, ‘Children of Australia’ by Don Spencer can be used as a welcoming song to

Children’s Week celebrations, and as a literacy activity through reading the lyrics.

Looking for some Children’s Week celebration inspiration? We’ve got you covered! Here is a list of some easy ideas you can do to celebrate Children’s Week.

Ways to celebrate Children’s Week

1. Host a dress up dayShow the students how much their rights mean to you and organise a fun dress up day! Blow up some balloons, bake some cupcakes and let the kids imaginations run wild as they dress up as their favourite character or animal, or letter themed costume.

2. Organise a morning teaInvite parents, grandparents or special friends to join children for a yummy morning tea to celebrate Children’s Week. Invite guests to bring a plate to make it even easier!

3. Create a time capsuleMake a time capsule on the theme of children or childhood. Ask children to place memorabilia such as drawings, stories or even photos in the time capsule to be opened in 10 years’ time.

4. Go on a family fun dayOrganise a special family fun day for parents and children to enjoy with lots of fun activities like tug-o-war, potato sack races and egg and spoon races. Or even a day out to the beach or a park!

5. Create an art exhibitionAsk children to draw colourful pictures of their family having fun together and showcase all the beautiful artwork on your walls. You could even invite parents, grandparents or special along to see the artwork.

Going online? In these uncertain times, you may need to shift your celebrations to an online format.

Here’s some ways to celebrate online without losing the fun.

Host a singalong or sea shanty session

Have a guess that baby competition – use pre-submitted photos to create a slideshow of baby photos and guess who’s who

Scan artworks and turn them into an online gallery or slideshow

Host a shared cooking class online – send out the recipe and ingredients list beforehand (or make up boxes that can be delivered)

Zoom with a local aged care home

Make a new friend with a pen-pal. Establish a pen pal relationship with someone somewhere else in the world. Join up with your family, friends or classmates. https://www.penpalschools.com/ and https://www.epals.com/#/connections are a great starting point

UNICEF has a series of Kahoot quizzes on children’s rights

At this age, children enjoy learning through play and creativity, using imagination to learn about their place in the world and how they relate to the people around them. As they develop a greater sense of self, they move from independent play to forming their first friendships and social networks.

Children’s Week celebrations at this age recognise each child’s individuality, the things that make every child special, and the importance of play in developing friendships.

Early Childhood Activities

Activity 1 - Host a Children’s Week party Whether you’re hosting a small party for just your class or group, a parents and carers celebration or a larger community event – it’s the perfect way to celebrate the children in your community.

Some ideas for your party:

Encourage children to come in costume or dress up as their dream profession

Showcase the work of the children in an art display

Teach the children the ‘Children of Australia’ song and hold a mini-concert

Tip: If you’re inviting parents/grandparents and caregivers to your party – run games that encourage the adults to join in the fun, like dancing games, adults vs children’s quizzes.

Activity 2 - Cooking classPreschool children love helping out with cooking activities.

If space allows, why not invite parents and carers in to help and create food for a shared afternoon tea to celebrate Children’s Week.

Some easy recipes that can be pre-prepared and don’t need cooking include:

Decorate biscuits with icing and sweets to make funny faces

Yum Balls

Fruit kebabs

Sushi sandwiches

Apple donuts

Decorate pre-made cupcakes

Tip: Children could bring along a favourite recipe to be collated into a class cookbook – these make a great graduation gift for the end of the year too.

Activity 3 – Self-portrait art show Discuss with children what they look like – highlight the things they all have in common (eyes, ears, hair, nose, mouth), and explore how these things also that make them different (different hair and eye colours, different hairstyles, different skin tones). Invite children to create self-portrait that can be displayed in an art-show for parents/caregivers and the community.

Some ideas for self-portraits:

Create a ‘now and then’ set of portraits showing themselves now, and what they think they’ll look like when they grow up. The ‘now’ portrait may include them doing things they currently enjoy and the ‘then’ include things they want to do when they’re older.

Use craft materials to create a collage effect

Use clay or salt dough to create 3D portraits

Create a portrait of someone else in the group

Go on a nature walk and collect materials for a nature inspired self-portrait

Give students a digital camera and props for ‘selfies’ that can be printed in a class collage

Display the artworks in the classroom and invite parents and carers in for an art show.

Tip: Create a display in the entryway of your building with a list of children’s rights and children’s artwork to encourage parents to learn more about Children’s week and discuss it with their children.

Activity 4 – TypeRights fonts – creating and colouring letters

Show children the Children’s Week posters for 2021 – and point out that each of the letters was designed by a child – just like them!

In this activity, children will be designing their own unique letters for their name.

Print out bubble writing fonts for the letters of their name.

Children can then add decorations such as:

Gluing on craft materials

Making the characters/letters out of playdough or clay

Using found materials from nature

Colouring using pencils and crayons

As an alternative, print out the letters for the words Children’s Week 2021 and encourage children to decorate them for the class/entryway display.

Community celebrations If your organisation has a relationship with a local

nursing home or retirement village – why not take the party to them? This can be done in person, or via video call, such as Zoom or Skype.

Encourage children to create artworks for the nursing home and write letters to the residents about their dreams for the future.

© Copyright 2021 Children’s Rights Queensland All rights reserved.

This booklet or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher Children’s Rights Queensland.

Proudly supported by