Lesson Plans and Resources

For over 50 years the U.S. Fund for UNICEF has teamed up with teachers to educate and motivate America's youth—helping them learn that they can make a difference both now and in the future.

New UNICEF-themed lesson plans for grades 6-8 and 9-12 are now available—based on UNICEF's annual assessment of the world's most vulnerable children: The State of the World's Children. These lessons are designed to help students gain a deep knowledge of the issues facing children throughout the developing world, focusing on three main areas of study:

Measuring Success: The Millennium Development Goals

Raise student awareness of the major problems facing children in the world today—including poverty, lack of education, gender inequality, child mortality, disease, and environmental degradation; encourage thinking about the long-term impacts of these problems on the world's children; articulate and demonstrate an understanding of what's necessary to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—the promises to children made by the world community at the Millennium Summit in 2000.

For grades 6-8
(PDF, 790K)

For grades 9-12
(PDF, 905K)

The Root Causes of Exclusion

While vulnerable and excluded children live in all countries, children in the poorest countries are most at risk of missing out. Students will examine four root causes of exclusion and examine the ways in which poverty, armed conflict, HIV/AIDS, and discrimination render children and their families excluded and invisible.

For grades 6-8
(PDF, 418K)

For grades 9-12
(PDF, 419K)

Real Life Stories and UNICEF's Response

By telling the stories of four teens—Himal, Martha, Ali, and Nodira—as they cope with poverty, armed conflict, child labor and physical disabilities—the grade-specific lesson plans illustrate the issues and challenges facing today's youth, as well as programs that are working to improve the lives of all four teens.

Himal's Story

Martha's Story

Ali's Story

Nodira's Story