Take a Stand Against Child Labour!!

Take a Stand Against Child Labour

For our project my group decided to focus on child labour, because as Early Childhood Education students we are obviously interested in protecting the rights of children, no matter where they live. Although we were able to easily decide on a topic, we had a lot of back and forth discussion on what our "Big Idea" could be, and how to relate it to art and creativity. After looking into all the statistics and facts we realized that child labour is still a very large issue, and there really is not enough recognition in it. We realized that although we thought the most obvious solution was to simply boycott companies who supported child labour, such as disney, nike, fisher price, the gap etc. But upon further research we actually found that the most promising solution was to simply raise awareness about companies and organizations who are trying to stop it, such as Fair Trade and Unicef. We decided that our Big Idea would be to use a facebook page to start a T-Shirt competition. People would submit their ideas and designs for T-shirts that raise awareness on the issue. That way people will get involved in the issue and help support it by using their creativity. 

We will involve a local Toronto company who uses organic companies to print the design of the winner. We will also ask Unicef to help sponsor us and post our competition on their website. We will persuade these companies by advertising their business on our facebook page and also by contributing all of the profits to the Unicef organization.

After presenting our idea to the class and seeing the other presentations I was proud of the job that we did. I think we had a very informative presentation and were able to incorporate the arts into our presentation. I thought our hand-outs to the class were really well done because we decided to make little t-shirts with hand prints that had five facts about child labour. This went really well with our idea, which was to create a design t-shirt competition to help raise awareness. Our handout was a design with awareness on it.

 One disappointing part of the experience was that we were pressed for time so we were unable to actually recieve any comments or feedback from the class. The one comment we did receive was from the Professor, and she asked us how we would advertise our competition. We explained that we would do it through online media such as facebook and through word of mouth.

If we were to do this project over I think we would need to have more ideas on how to advertise our idea, such as posting it around the school or in public areas in Toronto. Though I do think word of mouth can work, I think it is much slower and by advertising to the public the information can get out a lot faster and to a whole lot more people.

I really enjoyed doing this project and I think it is greatly beneficial for Early Childhood Education because it taught me that when you believe in an issue you can really make a difference. It inspires me as a future teacher to use art and creativity as a way to get children to involve themselves in social issues that need attention. It also teaches children that anyone can make a difference. Using creativity is a great way to express your own desires as well as inspire others to make a difference as well. 

Guerilla Art

For this weeks blog I had to venture out into the world and leave an anonymous art piece in a public place. I decided to do sidewalk chalk art in my local park. I chose to leave the message: "Smile! Spring is Back!" because all winter long I have had to watch grumpy dog-walkers stomp through snow and ice in order to exercise their dogs. How have I witnessed this you might ask? Because I myself am a grumpy dog-walker. I thought this would be a good idea because it has been a long, cold winter and the change from winter to spring means finally going on walks is bearable and even fun again.


I decided to leave my message right beside the garbage can, because I know dog-walkers are often in need of this particular item. I sat and waited for a couple minutes and was very happy (because I did not want to have to wait for too long) to see a young man walking his dog. Like I had suspected he was in need of the garbage can and after throwing his bag into the garbage saw my guerilla art message. I was excited because he looked down and smiled and I think he might of laughed to himself. I was nervous to initially do this project but was happy that I did because it makes me feel like little people can make a difference. Even though sometimes it feels like its hard to be heard, little things can start a ripple of change. 


I actually had a lot of fun participating in Guerilla art because I felt like I was sending out a positive message to my neighbourhood. Although I only sat and watched one person go by my art piece, it will likely remain for several days and influence more people than I will ever see. I was glad I decided to send a positive message, because in our fast-paced society people are often in such a hurry to get some where that you often do not see them smile. I hope that my art piece allowed people to stop and think about what spring represents: new beginnings and renewed hope. I love that after a long, cold winter spring brings warmth and new life.


I believe this was a great learning experience for me as a future educator because it really reinforced to me the importance of including art and creativity in the learning experience. There are many ways to incorporate art and different social causes into education and involve students. I think it would be a great idea to right positive and inspiring messages in public places with the help of students. It encourages them to be creative, but also shows them at a young age that everyone can make a difference and be heard.