Back to: Child Rights

Young children need to learn that they have rights so that they will avoid abuse and be able to self-advocate for themselves and be more respectful to others. Below are a series of materials we have collected from a variety of organizations that may help you to teach them about child rights. This information was created by different organizations and placed here for your consideration and use.

Advocates for Human Rights

K-5 Child Rights Lessons

http://www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org/k-5.html

In grades K-2, human rights education is focused on understanding the concepts of self, community and responsibility. Teachers can encourage students to develop respect for others by promoting listening and fair treatment. The following lesson plans are designed to introduce human rights topics at a basic level and promote respect for human rights among young students.

In grades 3-5, social responsibility is the central topic in human rights education. Students exploring the concepts of justice and equality by exploring discrimination and other issues they encounter in their own lives. The following lesson plans can be used to introduce human rights topics to students in third through fifth grade.

Lesson Plan: All About Me! Grades K-2
Students will learn about the value of diversity and respect for others.

Lesson Plan: Learning about Human Migration from Butterflies. Grades K-2
Students learn about human migration through a comparison with butterfly migration.

Lesson Plan: Water. Grades K-2
This lesson helps students understand the amount of water they use each day and develop a plan for reducing their water use.

Lesson Plan: Who Matters? Grade K-3

This lesson helps students understand understand the concept that all people’s human rights are important no matter how small or big or how young or old they are.

Lesson Plan: Right to a Clean Environment Role-Play. Grades 3-5
This lesson helps students gain an understanding of how the environment is connected to their daily lives and human rights.

Lesson Plan: Musical Chairs Human Rights Essay. Grades 3-5
Students will use pictures depicting human rights topics to create original stories and critically analyze how each story connects to different articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Lesson Plan: Traveling Suitcases. Grades 3-5
Students will learn about immigration through studying their own family history.

Lesson Plan: Beyond Pink and Blue: The Impact of Gender Stereotypes. Grades 3-7
Students will learn about how gender stereotypes affect them and explore how gender is portrayed in the media.

Lesson Plan: Challenge the Media
A fun group activity that can be done with youth and adults of any age that empowers participants to identify gender stereotypes in the media and examine their effects.

Lesson Plan: Voices of Iraqi Refugees – Making a Connection
From The Voices of Iraqi Refugees Teaching Guide, students will learn to make a connection between themselves and Iraqi refugee children and learn how to welcome refugees into their classrooms and schools.

Amnesty International

The Right Start: Introducing Child Rights to Primary Schoolers – This is a 116 page guide to teaching children in primary school about the UNCRC and their rights..

http://www.developmenteducation.ie/resources/human-rights/the-right-start-introducing-human-rights-education-within-the-primary-curriculum.html

Rights and Responsibilities Activity – rights_and_responsibilities

Amandla South African singing lesson on HRE

https://www.amnestyusa.org/files/pdfs/amandla_elem_ell_0.pdf

Anti Defamation League

Building a Foundation for Safe and Kind Online Communication – a 34 page guide to help young people be safe online. cyberbullying

Center for Global Education

Children’s Rights in the Early Years Settings – a set of activities

ChildrensRightsintheEarlyYearsSetting

Child Reach International

My School My Voice Project

https://www.childreach.org.uk/projects/my-school-my-voice-uk?gclid=CjwKEAiA7MWyBRDpi5TFqqmm6hMSJAD6GLeAZoI6y0yBrVqxg8iIZG6ElvaVAYhsFqk_JhLoWSh2gBoCJWHw_wcB

Children’s Rights Education

Children’s Rights Education Curriculum – Provides 15 units on different UNCRC rights

http://childrensrightseducation.com/curriculum.html

These include the following units:

Provision Rights – Survival

1. Introduction

2. Water

3. Food

4. Home

5. Health

Provision Rights – Development

6. Education

7. Play

Protection Rights

8. Love & Care

9. Work

10. Special Needs

11. Peace

Participation Rights

12. Identity

13. Expression

14. Life

15. Take Action

Civics and Citizenship Education

Human Rights – Children’s Rights

This website has a variety of different activities from those who are young to those who are older. The links to the different activities are on the left of this webpage and there are many, so check them out!

http://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/human_rights_childrens_rights_up,9458.html

Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)

Ready, Set Respect Curriculum – This is a 68 page tool kit to help children learn how to respect each other. GLSEN Ready Set Respect

No Name Calling Week – activities to prevent a variety of types of bullying

http://glsen.org/nonamecallingweek/elementary

These activity resources include:

Beauty is Skin Deep

Students explore their experiences or with name-calling based on physical appearance.

Blow the Whistle on Name-Calling

Students develop a strategy for group self-monitoring of name-calling in the Physical Education class.

Building a Bully-Free Building

Students imagine a school without name-calling and bullying.

Garden of Kindness

Students create a classroom or school-wide display to demonstrate their commitment to kindness.

I Was Just Kidding

Student distinguish between good-natured teasing and bullying through discussion of fictional scenarios.

It’s All in a Name

Students explore what names are, why they are important to us, and what the difference between names that feel good to hear and names that feel bad to hear.

Pinky and Rex and the Bully

Students read and discuss James Howe’s classic book.

Poetic Reactions

Students express their feelings regarding name‐calling using an artistic form of poetry.

Poster Design

Students work together to develop visual expressions of no name‐calling messages.

Situation Re-Creation

Students analyze name‐calling experiences to reflect on why it happened and how it could have ended differently.

Staying Safe

Students learn concrete strategies for what to do if they are being called names or bullied so that they can stay safe and healthy.

Think Before You Act

Students identify what they value about how people treat each other and fashion their statements into a class “code of ethics.”

We’re All Different Alike

An opportunity for students to feel united with their peers by both their similarities and their differences.

What if It’s Not Me

Students explore what they can do

Human Rights Campaign

All Children, All Families – emphasis on HRE and LGBTQ+ families

http://www.hrc.org/resources/all-children-all-families-training-curriculum

Open Education Resources

Global Nomads Project, a semester HRE in our community project . It is a very extensive program -you will find the overview link here: https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/5400-global-nomads-group-child-rights-curriculum-semest/view

You can access the Teacher’s manual here: Rights of the Child Educator Handbook

The Student’s manual is here: Rights of the Child Student Workbook

PBS

PBS has provided a handout with activities that promote racial and cultural awareness in the classroom – Activities that Promote Racial and Cultural Awareness

Rights Site News

Everyone Has the Right to be Safe at School is a 12 page guide that is full of activities that will make learning about child and human rights interesting to students, and help to reduce Bullying – rights_sites_bullying_2

Rock Your World

Human Rights Curriculum is a fun-filled way to engage in service learning about HRE. http://www.rock-your-world.org/curriculum

Some their activities include:

What are Human Rights? Understand the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Finding an Issue of Interest Discover an issue your students care about.

Becoming Informed help your students learn more about their chosen issue.

Creating An Avocacy Campaign Create an impactful social action campaign.

Making Films Learn about creating PSA’s documentaries and more.

Writing Persuasively Craft persuasive letters and commentaries.

Writing Songs Communicate your message through songwriting.

Teaching Tolerance

Under Child Rights Curriculum, you will find a link to their many helpful and inspirational resources for teaching HRE issues to students of all ages.

Make sure to check out the films in our HRE Child rights film tab!

A Study of Gender in Elementary Schools – this is the review of a study on this topic that educators will find useful – Gender and HRE survey

UNICEF

UNICEF is the leader in child rights. Their websites contain a variety of educational curriculum. Cruise around their websites to introduce yourself to the many ed options they provide.

Here is a link for their Kid Power set of educational resources for younger age students https://schools.unicefkidpower.org/

Here are a set of resources for teaching primary school students about their rights https://www.unicef.ca/en/elementary-resources

UNICEF Elementary Resources

These classroom-ready lesson plans for the elementary classroom were developed to help achieve curriculum aims.

Please view PDF files before printing. You may wish to copy and print certain lesson plans rather than the entire files, since some files exceed 50 pages.

Global Citizenship Calendar

Celebrate international days of significance with your students using this colourful calendar and the activities that accompany it.

Examine current humanitarian emergencies using this engaging and up-to-date resource.

Classroom Activities for Children’s Rights

Use these classroom activities to explore what rights are and how the Convention on the Rights of the Child outlines the rights of all children.

Get Resource

Rights, Wants and Needs Activity Kit

Explore the link between rights and responsibilities with these participatory activities.

Get Resource

Get Supplementary Rights, Wants and Needs Cards

The Heaven Shop Teacher’s Guide

This is the companion teacher’s guide for The Heaven Shop, a novel about children orphaned by AIDS in Africa, by Canadian children’s author, Deborah Ellis.

Get Resource

Bringing Children’s Rights Alive

These lessons, developed by staff and volunteers at UNICEF Canada, are consistent with the sixth grade language arts and social studies curricula in each province. Explore issues such as rights versus wants, income disparities and the food crisis through a range of fun and engaging activities.

Get Resource

Children of the World

This educational kit helps preschool and primary school children to face challenges, to confront other realities and to deepen their understanding of themselves as young citizens who can help initiate change.