22 November 2024
Children’s Day at Work
Let's bring the kids to the workplace on Friday 22 November 2024!
Children’s Day at Work is an event that lets workplaces hear and focus on the voices of children of various ages. There are many ways to implement Children’s Day at Work. You will find more information about the event on this page.
What happens at work?
Children may not know what the adults in their lives are doing for a living, or even what ‘working’ actually means. But children like to know where the grown-ups spend their days, what work actually means, and what kinds of professions there are. It helps them learn how society functions and what the adults’ world is like.
For the workplace, Children’s Day at Work provides an opportunity to hear the children’s fresh ideas on how things are at the workplace or, for example, on how work could be made more family-friendly.
Children’s Day at Work is not intended to put the children to work, but to familiarise them with working life and help them picture how workplaces function.
What does Children’s Day at Work involve?
There are many ways to implement Children’s Day at Work.
The workplace can send employees to a school or day care centre to talk about working life, or it can invite a group of children to the workplace from a nearby day care centre, school or after-school activity group.
The workplace can also agree with its employees that they can bring a familiar child or familiar children to work on the day. The children can be involved for the whole day or just for the morning or afternoon. You can arrange a children’s meeting, as well as presentations, tours, and various activities in which the children can participate.
Not all workplaces can host groups of children. If that is the case, a workplace representative can agree to visit a nearby school or day care centre, for example, to tell the children about the workplace and profession. Could a video address or Teams meeting with the group/class work?
Please remember:
- The adults who accompanied or brought the children to the workplace are responsible for them for the entire visit.
- Please get your employer’s permission for bringing the children to the workplace in good time.
- Notify the child’s day care centre, school or preschool about their absence in good time, following the appropriate procedure.
Children’s Day at Work at school and in early childhood education and care
Children’s Day at Work is celebrated on the Friday of the national children’s rights week (22 November). Children spending the special day at school or in early childhood education and care instead of at workplaces have been taken into account in the materials for the children’s rights week.
Children’s Day at Work exercises (in Finnish and Swedish, lapsenoikeuksienviikko.fi) in the school materials can also be used in early childhood education and care with some adjustments. Additional information and a wide selection of interesting exercises for schools, early childhood education and care units, and activity groups can be found on this website:
Ideas for the day
- Offer the children breakfast, lunch or a light snack.
- Introduce the workplace to the children: what do people do there, what jobs there are, how many adults work there, what kinds of premises does the workplace have? Who is the boss and who is responsible for pen procurement?
- Hold a meeting. On what issues would you like to have the children’s opinions? What did the children imagine the workplace would be like? What would they like to change at the workplace?
- Can you arrange a child-appropriate way of participating in or learning about the work done at the workplace? For example, could you arrange a new employee health examination for the children’s plushies or let the kids create content for the workplace’s social media account?
- Let the children be seen and heard on the day! Drawings and other works of art created by the children for notice boards and break rooms on Children’s Day at Work will cheer your employees and build team spirit for months after the day.
- You could also play with the children. Play is good for adults too and builds solidarity.
Promoting the participation of children
Children’s Day at Work increases the participation of children and young people in society. It is important for everyone to experience that they are meaningful and a part of society already in childhood. Participation means that the child or young person gets enough information, is able to express their opinion, is heard, and has a say in things. The voice of children and young people needs to be heard in society, and workplaces can do their part on Children’s Day at Work!
Children participating in the activities of workplaces should be made to feel that their opinions are interesting and important, and that people want to hear them. You can ask the children about their thoughts on work and professions or their opinions on things and plans at the workplace.
Tips for promoting the participation of children
- Be present and focus on listening to the child’s opinions
- Be interested in what the child has to say, and give the child enough time to answer.
- Do not make assumptions or try to steer the conversation.
- Remember that choosing not to participate is also a valid choice, and you need to respect everyone’s personality and choices.
More ways of promoting participation can be found on the following pages, for example:
Ideas for engaging children
Children’s meeting
Below, we have listed a few sample questions you can use as an agenda for the kids’ own meeting.
- Why do grown-ups go to work? What is good about grown-ups working? What is bad about it?
- What does this job sound like? What is interesting / not interesting about it?
- What makes a workplace good?
- What is interesting about this workplace in general? What are you excited about and why?
- What things about this workplace are unexciting, and why?
- What kinds of duties would you be interested in for your TET work experience period? (You can ask older children this.)
- How could the workplace take children better into account?
- How could the workplace look after its grown-ups?
Workday Moment drawings
Go here to print a ready A4 template on which the child can draw.
Instructions: The child can draw what happened during Children’s Day at Work or what they found interesting. The adult writes the child’s name and age, their own name and the child’s description of the drawing on the page. You can make an exhibition of the drawings in the hallways of your workplace.
Other suggestions
- Let the children take charge of the workplace’s social media accounts for the day. Remember to safeguard the children’s privacy and obtain permission for taking and publishing photographs! Use the hashtag #LapsetMukaanTöihin
- Arrange a quiz for the children on a theme related to your workplace. Children like Kahoot! quizzes, for example.
- Hold a round of introductions, with the children introducing the adults accompanying them and vice versa. You can also ask the children to tell what the adults do for a living and the adults to tell what the children enjoy doing.
- Decorate unopened food cans or other suitable items found at the workplace with stickers or plastic eyes.
- Let the child think about and make up jobs that people could do at the workplace and show and tell what the jobs would be like.
- Make plans for the next Children’s Day at Work together with the children. Also request feedback from the children: what was fun about the day? Was something boring? What could have been done better?
You can arrange child-oriented activities for your youngest guests
- A fairy-tale read by the management team.
- A drawing or colouring session.
- An obstacle course and dance/office workout.
- Try the games recommended at the Play Day site: Sata leikkiä – Leikkipäivä (in Finnish, leikkipaiva.fi)
- Get more tips from the Play Bank: Leikit (in Finnish, Leikkipankki.fi)
Social media tips
Your participation in Children’s Day at Work makes for a great social media post! By participating, you are making an important contribution to make work and professional life more family friendly. By posting on social media, you can communicate that you support and promote family-friendly values.
Remember to use the hashtag #LapsetMukaanTöihin and ask permission to publish the photographs or videos from the children in them and their custodians.
Children have great imaginations. Why not let them plan and create suitable social media content for you! Let them tell people what children think people do at your workplace. What did they get to do on the day?
If you create the post yourself, you can talk about the ideas your workplace got from meeting the children. Why did you decide to participate in the event? Were you surprised by something?
Material Bank
You can use these materials for 2024 when you participate in Children’s Day at Work!
‘Our workplace is taking part’ poster
You can use the poster in both digital and printed formats.
Event advertisement
Support the event by sharing this ad!
Children’s access card on a lanyard
You can add your workplace’s name or logo to the access card if you like.
Download the access card (pdf)
Children’s diploma for participation
Write the child’s name on the first line and have your workplace’s representative sign their name on the second line.
Logo
Download by clicking on the logo!
-
- Children’s Day at Work, pink, 1946x1821px (.jpg)
-
- Children’s Day at Work, white, 1946x1821px (.png)
-
- Children’s Day at Work, pink, 1946x1821px (.png)
-
- Children’s Day at Work, black, 1946x1821px (.png)
Pictures for social media
-
- Children’s Day at Work 1, woman and girl, 1080x1080px (png)
-
- Children’s Day at Work 2, child group at the workplace, 1080x1080px (png)
-
- “Children’s Day at Work is coming again”, man and boy, 1080x1080px (png)
-
- “Our workplace is taking part”, guidance at work, 1080x1080px (png)
Sign up for the Children’s Day at Work 2024
The names of the registered workplaces and organizations will be published on this page.
Registered in 2024
331Participating companies/organizations 2024
In collaboration with
