Strong Interest in Exhibition on Children's Rights

The “Children Have Rights” exhibition, which just concluded at the Goethe Gallery, drew a great deal of interest: During the three weeks of the show, approximately 830 children visited the free, hands-on exhibition. The youngest were preschoolers, and the oldest were 12 years old. Fourteen school classes and 27 preschool groups took advantage of the opportunity. About 200 professionals—teachers, (school) social workers, after-school care providers, early childhood educators from daycare centers, and child care providers—visited the exhibition either with children or as professional teams.

Hands-on Stations Were Especially Popular

Eight interactive stations invited children to discover children’s rights through play. 

“The interactive activities were especially popular,” 

reports Yvonne Hoyer-Bachmann from the Youth Welfare Service, who led the project together with Sandra Wiegand-Neumann and Christian Keppler from the Youth and Education Service. Under the theme “Right to Healthy Development,” for example, children could put together their own healthy lunchbox; for the “Right to Privacy,” they crafted creative door signs for their own bedrooms. 

“It was amazing how precisely many children were able to articulate their rights,” 

said the organizing team.

Pictures, play materials, and stories illustrated the individual rights in a child-friendly way, and an audio system accompanied the stations. On a wall where children could use stickers to mark the rights most important to them, the right to play and leisure and the right to protection from violence were mentioned most frequently.

A collaborative project involving numerous participants

The exhibition was on loan from the “Federal Ministry of Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth” (BMBFSFJ). Its presentation in Jena was made possible by financial support from the Auridis Foundation. During the exhibition, numerous teams from the city administration, along with representatives from local counseling services and network partners, were on site to answer questions from citizens and families.

“My heartfelt thanks go to everyone who contributed to the success of this important project,” 

says Johannes Schleußner, Head of the Education Department. 

“The high level of interest—among children, families, and professionals alike—shows just how important this topic is in Jena. This approach allowed us to successfully achieve our goals of educating children about their rights while simultaneously raising adults’ awareness of their responsibilities.”