It’s World Children’s Day and Google Has A Special Doodle To Celebrate Childhood!

white and blue pencils

World Children’s Day is celebrated annually on the 20th of November. In 1959, it was on this day the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and subsequently in 1989 the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Every year this important day is celebrated to “promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare.”

Google jumped on the bandwagon and launched a very special doodle to commemorate this special day!

This year’s Google Doodle transforms the search giant’s logo into happy children playing outdoors in a garden and one of them reading a book. The objective behind the design is to promote the “importance of a good childhood and initiatives to protect children’s rights”. In fact, UNICEF on its official website states the theme for this year as “a time to celebrate and a time to demand action. Kids are taking a stand around the world to say: it is time for every child, to have every right.”

Recently in India, where Children’s Day is celebrated on the 14th of November (also the birthday of India’s First Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru or fondly known as “Chacha” Nehru among children for his efforts to advocate for children’s right to education), a seven-year-old girl from Gurgaon, Divyanshi Singhal, won the 2019 Doodle for Google competition which was featured on the Google India homepage!

Check out the whimsical doodle below  

“Walking Trees” by Divyanshi SinghalSource: The Economic Times

“Walking Trees” by Divyanshi SinghalSource: The Economic Times

The theme of the competition – ‘When I grow up, I hope …’, inspired young Divyanshi to create an illustration of “Walking Trees” to express her hope for the future generation to protect the environment from deforestation. According to The Economic Times, the seven-year-old said, “When I grow up, I hope the world’s trees can walk or fly. The land could be cleared so easily without making them die. There would be so little deforestation and humans can just ask the trees and their friends to move to another place.”

Source: tenor.com

Source: tenor.com

She added, “when I visited my grandmother, I was so sad to see the trees around her house being cut. So I thought that if trees could walk or fly, we will not have to cut them.” (Aww, such a lovely thought!)

Fun facts YOU NEED TO KNOW about Children’s Day….

1. Children’s Day is celebrated on different days in different countries – In Malaysia, Children’s Day is celebrated on the last Saturday of October while World Children’s Day is celebrated on 20th November.

2. Every year promotes a different theme –  In 2017,  it #KidsTakeOver, where Unicef invited children around the world to take over “grown-up roles” such as in the media and politics to voice support for children in need. In 2018, #GoBlue was the theme which encouraged world leaders to dedicate time and effort to champion the rights of every child and acknowledge that these rights are non-negotiable.

3. It is a national holiday in some countries – In Japan, Children’s Day  (Tango no sekku) celebrated on 5 May was designated as a national holiday by the government in 1948.

 

Featured image sourced from Aaj Tv