Children's Design International Collection, registered charity, Canada BN 770946317 RR0001 – children, drawings, collection, world, ethnography, learning, education, charitable, charity, human rights

World Children’s Day 2025

November 20^th is World Children’s Day. In other words, the World Children’s Rights Day, because annually it marks the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.

We join everyone who helps “amplify children’s voices” as UNICEF puts it.

On the UNICEF’s web site and social media, you will see a huge amount of photographs of children, usually with a mention of their first name and country. Looking at these portraits, you may wonder what these children would actually say about their living conditions. Little is revealed about the context of the photographs, and usually nothing about the photographers. What we are implicitly asked to do is to see how the images fit into the narratives of the articles and media posts.

We invite you to join us in celebrating those who document, record, preserve, and share children’s experiences and stories, as children tell them. They are the people who amplify children’s voices, and make room for them in society.

In this spirit, we share below a photograph, by an anonymous photographer, of a photographer famous for photographing anonymous children: Lewis Hines.

We also like to celebrate with you the people behind the Lewis Hines Project at the Lawrence History Center, in Massachusetts, who unearthed the stories of the real life children captured by Hines’ lenses. This is dedication to giving children their voices back at its best.

The issues the convention on children’s rights raises are many, and each as pressing as the others. Among them, we invite you to learn more about the continued devastating impact of child labour. In a report released earlier this year, Child Labour: Global estimates 2024, trends and the road forward, UNICEF and the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimate that nearly 138 million children are working, often in dangerous conditions. That is a lot of people denied their childhood, or education opportunities. While UNICEF reports a significant decrease in child labour over the past twenty five years, it nonetheless admits to a global failure to eliminate it altogether.

The ILO has long been an advocate in the fight against child labour. Interestingly, though, young adults suffer scandalously high unemployment rates across the globe. This has been the case for decades. It is one thing to fight child labour, but what about helping young adult enter the job market? Labour organizations seem clueless on how to curb systemic barriers that prevent new generations of workers at entry level. See some recent World Bank alarming statistics. But that is another story.

**Lewis Hines photographing children**, c1910. Source: Eastman Museum, NY, 2025.

Making it memorable

Before I forget, the Semaine de la Mémoire begins tomorrow in Strasbourg, France. It is the sixth edition of this initiative by l’Observatoire B2V des mémoires, itself mainly supported by Groupe B2V, a social protection organization in France.

What a great idea to bring together experts in current research about memory, and allow them to meet the general public.

The program includes two conferences specific to children and adolescents. One will be presented this Tuesday September 30^th, by, Carmen Schröder, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry, et Julie Rolling, child and adolescent psychiatrist: Sommeil, rythmes et mémoire chez les adolescents et les jeunes adultes (Sleep, Rythms and memory in teenagers and young adults).

The other, La mémoire au service des apprentissages: ce que nous dit la recherche (Memory use in learning: what’s science tells us), will be presented the following day by Nathalie Gavens, researcher in psychology of education, et Sonia Lorant, lecturer in cognitive psychology.

***Mnemosyne, Mother of the Muses***. By Frederic Leighton, 1830-1896. Source: **Sotheby’s**, 27 September 2025.

The pencil lead that never was

Once upon a long time ago, a mistake went on for centuries, even though almost everyone knew it was a mistake. Pencil lead is still a commonly used expression, while it is widely known to be a misnomer.

The truth is, the familiar small wooden writing tools have at their core a blend of graphite and clay.

Graphite is the first victim of this unfortunate mistake. Its resemblance to lead is to be blamed. When discovered in England in 1560, it was named “plumbago”. The term is still in use in industry and refers to pure graphite. The color is really the only trait that graphite shares with the toxic heavy metal. In 1779, a Swedish chemist ultimately let the world know that graphite was made of carbon, not a metal. Almost twenty years later, French chemist Nicholas Jacques Conté patented the process used to make the pencils we know to this day.

We must acknowledge that the error in naming graphite was made in good faith. The fact that writing tools made of lead had been in use from Antiquity through the Middle Ages likely contributed to the mistake.

While it can be justified and forgiven, setting things right is no less the thing to do. So, let’s stop using an expression which we know to be misleading. My pencil is not toxic. What about yours? Find more about pencils by visiting the California Cedar Products website. For an in-depth, illustrated book about writing tools in Antiquity, see Anna Willi’s book, Manual of Roman everyday writing tools, Vol. 2, accessible Research Gate.

***A pencil tip***. Source: Wikipedia, 20 September, 2025.

LIVES IN VERSES – Children’s poetry from Brazil

Registration now opened, in Portuguese, for children 10 to 14 of age, living in Brazil.

GOAL: To stimulate and develop the literary potential of young people from Brazilian communities through poetry, revealing to society each participant’s perspective on daily issues that impact their lives.

Through workshops led by teacher Lya Oliveira, these young people will be introduced to poetry as a literary art form, its diverse styles, and its importance in different cultures.

Each participant will be invited to write their own poems and, if desired, add a drawing to complement their work.

During this creative process, they will be introduced to the mission of the Children’s Design International Collection (CDIC), which focuses on preserving forms of expression for children and young people.

These activities aim to connect participants with the world and inspire everyone involved to appreciate literature as an artistic expression.

METHODOLOGY

To develop and/or enhance the participants’ skills and competencies in the practice of artistic creation and representation in the production of poems, audiovisual and digital resources will be used, such as:

1 – Discussion group to introduce the project and its objectives, as well as to explain how to share the activities developed within the initiative.

2 – Defining the concept and characteristics of the poem.

3 – Beginning of written production and artistic expression.

4 – Analysis and correction of the texts (if necessary), without altering their essence or identity.

5 – Completion of the writing of the poems.

6 – Organization and preparation of the event for the exhibition of the results of the artistic literature.

7 – Exhibition of the finished production on the website (texts, audio, drawings).

8 – Presentation: virtual fair, interviews, among others, to present our project “Lives in Verses.”

BACKGROUND

Lya J. Oliveira is a public elementary school teacher in São Paulo, Brazil. In recent years, she has dedicated herself to independently leading poetry workshops with young people from the Capão Redondo community in the city of São Paulo.

Part of this literary production has already been published online and has also been transformed into two books, sold at cost upon request.

The creative sessions foster a sense of pride and help develop self-esteem and autonomy among the young people involved in the project. In this process, the young people share their personal experiences and experiences with the other group members, contributing to their own self-discovery.

Lya Oliveira intends to continue the project by expanding it to a wider audience. She reached out to the Children’s Design International Collection (CDIC) and volunteers to expand the reach of this work in conjunction with the CDIC, whose goal is to collect and preserve all creative work developed by young people under the age of 18.

CDIC considers all of this production valuable and firmly believes that it should be shared with the public and also preserved for research purposes.

The CDIC’s collection development strategy seeks to engage young people and reach a diverse audience, thus legitimizing their role in society. The development of the CDIC collection, as well as its access and educational programs, support and complement Lya Oliveira’s work on this initiative developed in Brazil.

International Archives Week 2025

Archives are cool, hip, fun, quite participatory, and increasingly inclusive. Hooray! Once again, our volunteer-run organization joins the archival community in celebrating the International Archives Week.

If you are curious or passionate about archives, the International Council on Archives (ICA) provides a vast agenda of activities which take place in many countries. We proudly add to the festivities our first collection development campaign: COLLECTION CONNECTION. The ICA also offers fantastic webinars, in English, French and Spanish, over the coming days.

The theme this year is accessibility. It is timely for us, because we have just enabled user subscriptions on our website. Visitors can now create their page, album, gallery, group, and network. Happy #IAW2025 to us all!

Many ways to make waves

The National Volunteer Week is on in Canada, and we would like to add our voice in celebrating the amazing contributions that volunteers are making every day to enrich our collective experience. We could not do without their commitment and generosity.

Take this opportunity to visit our recruitment page and to browse our online collection. Make sure to find your way to make waves with us.

If boating makes waves, at CDIC we know how to preserve children’s take on boating fun. The Red and Green Boat below was drawn nearly sixty years ago in a school notebook. The young artist made sure the whole boat was visible, propeller included.

CDIC’s Volunteer Canada 2025 NVW campaign.

Children and Society : Call for abstracts

You have a research report to publish? Children and Society : The International Journal of Childhood and Children’s Services is calling you. Published by the National Children’s Bureau (UK), there are only three weeks left to submit your abstract for the Children in the archives issue.

It is encouraging to see journal publishers paying more attention to and joining the conversation about the urgent need to preserve children’s artifacts.

This call for abstracts comes a few months only after the publication of an issue of Archives and Records (Volume 45, issue 3, 2024) dedicated to the role of archives in engaging children and preserving their social and historical contributions.

Meet Ishita

We are happy to welcome Ishita Bisht as our new Events & Communications Volunteer. Full of enthusiasm for our mission, Ishita is already working on updating our communication plan and preparing a global survey which will be available in a few weeks.

Upon joining our organization she said: “I personally love being around kids and enjoy painting with them. Through these experiences, I’ve realized that children’s art is more than just art—it is their entire being speaking through shapes and strokes. I’m thrilled to volunteer for CDIC! With my skills and experience, I hope to contribute to increasing public understanding of the importance of children’s artifacts.”

Ishita holds a post-graduate degree in Public Relations and Corporate Communication from the Xavier Institute of Communications (Mumbai), a graduate certificate in Global Business Management from Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (Kitchener, ON). Her creative outlets include storytelling and strategy for communication. She has had the opportunity to work across various industries like healthcare, international relations, retail, and quick service restaurants, gaining valuable insights along the way.

Noodles shine on

You will not let kids play with raw meat and make a meat dress for a doll (hello Jana Sterbak and Lady gaga). You will however provide dry noodles for safely making playful jewelry.

Noodle jewels have been around for generations. It is fun and combined with other materials, like beads, fabric, dye, and pompoms, it can get wildly creative.

You will find a simple method to dye your noodles in this Youtube video: How to dye Pasta Noodles for Craft. See great models published by Mum’s Grapevine, an Australian blog.

Interestingly, while children have been emulating grown ups’ jewelry, a jeweler has in turn emulated children’s love for noodle art. Check out this commercial collection of “real” jewels: Al Dente – Delicacies Jewelry. This company runs a philanthropic program for the fight against hunger.

Finally, as one of our Pinterest albums goes “Do play with your food.