The body of rights

Before you begin

• Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
• Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
• Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help. 

Planning and setting up this activity

• For this activity, you will need to print the Know your rights poster or the symbols pack.
• This can be done as a whole group or in smaller groups with support from an adult or young leader. 
• You can run this activity in different ways depending on your group. For example, you could create two piles on the floor labelled Want and Need and have young people place their token in the pile that matches their answer, work together as a group to decide where each card belongs and place it in the correct box, or set up different corners of the room for young people to move to, representing their choice.
• You can use the Scouts Cymru Rights Award booklet to support this activity.
• All the rights for young people are written on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). 
• You may wish to use this Song and Lyrics,to help your group learn about their rights. 

Running this activity

1. Gather everyone together and explain that today they will be learning about children’s rights.
2. Tell them that rights are the things all children need to grow up happy, healthy, and safe. 
3. Ask everyone to find a space to draw, this could be at a table or on a clean floor. Make sure each person has paper and pens or pencils.
4. Ask them to draw an outline of a person. It should look more like a gingerbread person to make sure there is enough space in the middle.
5. Invite them to think of five things children need to grow up happy, healthy, and safe, such as:
   1. People who look after you – like family, friends, and teachers
   2. Being healthy and having enough food to grow strong
   3. Learning new things – like at school or trying new skills
   4. Friends and feeling part of a group – having people to play and talk with
   5. Feeling safe – being protected from danger and having rules to help you 
6. Ask them to write these five things inside their person.
7. Using the Know Your Rights poster or Symbols Pack, ask them to see if what they have written matches any of the rights.
8. Encourage them to write down any other rights they think are important for growing up happy, healthy, and safe.
9. On the outside of the person, they can add names of people who help them get their rights, such as parents, teachers, police, or the Children’s Commissioner. 
10. Give the group an opportunity to share their drawings and ideas. Remind them that everyone’s thoughts are important and that these discussions help them understand their rights and who can support them.
11. Finally, let them know that there is a long list of their rights called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and you could show them a poster to help them see and understand it. 

Extend the activity (optional)

1. Place cards labelled Yes, No, and Maybe around the room. 
2. Explain to the young people that you are going to ask them some questions, and they should stand by the card that reflects their answer.   
3. After each question, you could discuss why they chose what they did. 
   • Do you feel listened to by adults? (Link to Article 12) – if not who does listen to you?
   • Do you get to relax and play? (Article 31) – If no what stops you?
   • Do you think children should eat McDonalds every day? No (Article 24 and 3 – adults must do what is best for you and you have a right to be healthy)
   • Do you think all children in Wales get their rights? If not who may not?
4. Finally, let them know that there is a long list of their rights called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and you could show them a poster to help them see and understand it.