National Child Protection Week

Art Activity

This year in Child Protection Week (1 – 7 September) we will be talking about how Every conversation matters.

We’re looking for artworks to show what children and young people think about their relationships and conversations they have with family, friends and community. 

These will then be used in our campaign (leading up to September) to help show that protecting children is about all of us working together.

What we need:

  • Investment in time (probably a few hours) talking to the children about their families, friends, homes and places they feel safe and connected. And then using these conversations as inspiration to create artworks that are based on meaningful conversations. 
  • We would love to see collaborative artworks but we are also happy for children to do individual artworks if they prefer.
  • Permission to display your beautiful artworks on our website and on social media. (This is part of the submission process). 

Here are some talking points to get you started…

You know your children best, so please feel free to guide your own conversations. 

Conversations are powerful tools to keep children and young people safe and well.

Conversations can help us understand issues, craft solutions, value community knowledge, and build the brains and social connections of children and young people.

Conversations between
…children and their caregivers matter (from the very earliest days)
…children and their peers matter
…families with teachers, doctors, and other professionals matter
…friends or neighbours matter
…decision-makers and the communities they serve matter.

We’d like to encourage children and young people thinking about conversations they have in all aspects of their lives – their families, their communities and what is important to them.

The following questions might be useful:

  • What is one of your favourite conversations to have? What do you like to talk about?
  • Who is the person that really listens when you talk?
  • What are the things that make you feel close to your friends? 
  • How do you feel when you know someone has listened to you?
  • How do you feel when you talk to someone you trust?