Primary school resources

If you’re a primary school teacher looking for resources on children’s human rights, we’ve produced a lot of them― some that can help you teach about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) itself, and some about what’s happening to make the rights in the Convention a reality for children and young people in Scotland.

Who the Commissioner is and how he can help you

This webpage explains who the Commissioner is and how he works to explain and stand up for children’s rights.

Our office also runs an advice line for people who need advice and help around children’s human rights, and we have a webpage for children to explain how they can reach it.

UNCRC resources

Simplified UNCRC Articles

We’ve also produced additional webpages especially for children to help them understand two important parts of the UNCRC: that their voices must be heard and that adults must remember that children’s needs matter.

Find out about the UNCRC

Symbols resources

Resource: Learning about human rights  

UNCRC Symbols Cards

November 2016. We’ve worked with other Commissioner’s offices to produce a simplified version of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It communicates the first 42 articles of the UNCRC using symbols and easy to read language.

Resource: Learning about human rights  

UNCRC Symbols poster

November 2016

This poster uses symbols and simple language to explain the first 42 articles of the UNCRC.

Symbols resources in Scots Gaelic

Resource: Learning about human rights  

Gaelic UNCRC Symbols poster

February 2019

Scots Gaelic translation of our UNCRC Symbols poster, which explains the first 42 articles of the UNCRC using pictures and simple language.

Resource: Learning about human rights  

Gaelic UNCRC Symbols cards

February 2019

Scots Gaelic translation of our UNCRC Symbols cards, which explain the first 42 articles of the UNCRC using pictures and simple language.

Our symbols cards and poster explain the first 42 Articles of the UNCRC in pictures and simple language. They’re designed to be used as a communication tool for children and young people who:

• are non-verbal,
• have speech and language difficulties, or
• have additional support needs.

They can also be used to help communicate ideas about rights to very young children.

UNCRC Articles in different languages

Resource: Learning about human rights  

BSL Simple UNCRC

April 2015

A simplified BSL version of the first 42 articles of the UNCRC.

Resource: Learning about human rights  

Scots Gaelic Simple UNCRC

February 2019

A simplified version of the first 42 articles of the UNCRC in Scots Gaelic.

Resource:

Punjabi Simple UNCRC

March 2020

A simplified Punjabi version of the first 42 articles of the UNCRC.

Resource: Learning about human rights  

Urdu Simple UNCRC

March 2020

A simplified Urdu version of the first 42 articles of the UNCRC.

Resource: Learning about human rights  

Arabic Simple UNCRC

March 2020

A simplified Arabic version of the first 42 articles of the UNCRC.

Resource: Learning about human rights  

Mandarin Simple UNCRC

March 2020

A simplified Mandarin Chinese version of the first 42 articles of the UNCRC.

Resource: Learning about human rights  

Polish Simple UNCRC

March 2020

A PDF of Polish version of the first 42 articles of the UNCRC.

Activities

Resource: Activities, Games and Challenges  Learning about human rights  

The power to change things: Lightning bolt activity

March 2021. UNCRC Incorporation gives children the power to change things! This workshop can help them think about the change that they’d like to see.

Download a version of the worksheet for black and white print.

Resource: Posters, Postcards and Prints  

Poyum fur rights

March 2021. To celebrate children’s rights being written into Scots law we asked Lenniesaurus to write us this special richts poyum, which you can use with our writing rights poems resource as part of a session or workshop.

Resource: Activities, Games and Challenges  

Activity: Writing rights poems

March 2021. Children have the right to express themselves, and you can use this resource to help them do that and create an acrostic poem about their human rights.

Resource: Activities, Games and Challenges  

Rights word search 1

March 2021. A rights-based word search for children to use as part of a session or lesson around human rights.

Resource: Activities, Games and Challenges  

Rights word search 2

March 2021. A rights-based word search for children to use as part of a session or lesson around human rights.

Resource: Learning about human rights  

Children as Human Rights Defenders Toolkit

December 2019

We made this toolkit in partnership with Children’s Parliament. It’s a resource for adults all over the world who work with children and young people.

It explains the work we’ve done around child human rights defenders and contains practical activities that will let you carry out a project of your own.

Answering children’s questions

We know that when children learn about their rights they often have a lot of questions, and the answers to them aren’t always easy to find.

We’ve created an FAQ full of questions we’ve been asked that are hard to find simple answers to. If you’re asked a question and can’t see it answered here, you can contact us and we’ll do our best to answer it.

Our work explained for children

We’ve produced lots of resources for children and young people to explain some of the specific work we’ve done to promote and protect children’s rights.

Every year, we also produce an annual report for children and young people to explain what we’ve been doing. Our report for 2020/21 will be ready soon, and you can read our report for 2019/20 now.

More resources