Grade 2-3

Child Rights Activities for Grade 2-3

What are the learning goals?

The goals of the workshop at the grade 2 & 3 levels are to:

1. Engage students to understand what children ‘need’ and ‘want’ – helping them to make the distinction between the as well to make learning connections between ‘needs’ to ‘rights’.
2. Introduce children to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and World Children’s Day – especially the right to be healthy, safe, heard and be myself. This might look the same and different for children in Canada and around the world.
3. Explore what the words ‘rights’ and ‘responsibility’ mean – and how they are related to child rights. Identify people responsible for child rights.
4. Activate children to express their ideas/drawings/messages about what rights are
important to them – and to share them with important people responsible for their rights

Learning about child rights meets several BC Curriculum Connections for grade 2 and grade 3 (Source: UNICEF).

There is an overwhelming amount of great resources from different agencies in Canada and around the world. Here are a few suggested activities that might work for your students based on each learning goal.

Activity 1: Sorting Needs & Wants
Activity 2: Needs & Rights at Home
Activity 3: Setting Up a Neighbourhood
Activity 4: Matching Rights and Responsibilities
Activity 5: Malala’s Magic Pencil
Activity 6: Write a Postcard to the Mayor
Activity 7: Child Rights Leadership Cards

Materials you will need:

Learning Goal 1: What is the difference between a ‘need’ and ‘want’?

Watch the Video: ‘Unpacking My Rights’ (about 5 minutes). This is a locally produced video featuring Puppet Giggles visiting from the planet Zog.

Giggles meets Gita to talk about the difference between needs/wants and child rights. Children from Victoria also offer tips on how to help newcomer children feel welcome. The video was produced by the International Institute for Child Rights and Development, Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria and Royal Roads University.

Key Activities:

Activity 1: Sorting Needs & Wants
Activity 2: Needs & Rights at Home
Activity 3: Setting Up a Neighbourhood

Learning Goal 2 &3: What are child rights and responsibilities?

● Share key points above about child rights, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and how we can come together to celebrate World Children’s Day in our class.
● An easy way to think about Child Rights is to say and act out the ‘4 Bs’: “All children have the right to:”

○ Be Healthy >> Action: Strong arms
○ Be Safe >> Action: Hug yourself
○ Be Heard >> Action: Hand over ears
○ Be Yourself >> Action: Thumb pointing to yourself

Watch the Video: COVID & Me – In the Spring, BC’s top doctor made some difficult decisions to slow the spread of COVID-19. These decisions impacted the lives and rights of children around the world.

To help inspire children going through an especially hard time, Grade 2 students from Oaklands Elementary created a zoom video with the Representative for Children and Youth, Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth, who is responsible for children with special situations and needs in BC.

Key Activities:

Activity 4: Matching Rights and Responsibilities

Learning Goal 4 & 5: Expressing my ideas and exploring what rights look like in different places

Key Activities:

Activity 5: Malala’s Magic Pencil
Activity 6: Write a Postcard to the Mayor
Activity 7: Child Rights Leadership Cards

This outline is also available in Arabic – Grade 2 & 3 Arabic