Lloyd Park Under 5's Nature Explorers

Aim

Help us run an under 5's Nature Explorers group, drawn from harder to reach members of the community, building confidence and wellbeing.

We wish to run a new under 5's Nature Explorer group, supporting children and their parents/carers from harder to reach members of the local community.

How will we do this?

We use the natural excitement of being in nature to teach about conservation in a fun way while (secretly) improving health and wellness. The children gain in confidence and social awareness, through learning what they can do to make life better for themselves, wildlife and the local community. 

Children are encouraged to partake in active play, exploring new ways to be physically active in the natural world, getting dirty without getting into trouble! Physical activity is key to good health, and putting fun into the activity is key to getting kids (and parents/carers) active.

Each month we also have a simple craft related to our theme such as making masks, cards or bird feeders. Parents/carers are shown the craft and given the materials and instructions to make it with their child/children, supporting enhanced relationships and shared learning.

We work with volunteers to support the programme but need funds for materials, training,  equipment that is suitable for children, room hire and to pay expenses of the volunteers.

How does this help?

Throughout the activities children and adults are encouraged to engage with each other and the group as a whole.  Children gain self esteem, become more physically active, learn to embrace others from different cultures and learn how important their local green spaces are for us all. This can impact wider aspects of their lives making them stronger and more resilient.

What happens next?

If we reach our stretch target we will be able to start a completely new group in an area of need. If we reach our lower target we will increase the capacity of the current programmes to take far more disadvantaged children and their parent/carer into our programme and train new staff in this area.

We can begin this as soon as we receive the money as The Conservation Volunteers has a strong infrastructure. To learn more about our wider work see this short (3 mins) video...

But don't just listen to us:

We have had great feedback from similar programmes in other areas:

“I really like this programme as it gives my 2yr old daughter so much confidence being out getting messy rather than being nervous about it……and I always learn something new too!”

“This is a really great group for U5s. The sessions are well planned and have a good balance of fun and learning. My girls really look forward to sessions. And find them very enjoyable. We love the mix of crafts, nature exploring and story time.”

“This is my daughters last session as she starts school tomorrow! We have attended for 2 years and Taya has really enjoyed coming here. Vicky does a brilliant job of engaging the Children. The sessions are great practise for school as they need to listen and there’s lots of opportunity to explore and answer questions. The sessions are also really good for encouraging Children to care about the wildlife around them (and I learnt a few things too!) We only wish we could continue to come along”

This project closed unsuccessfully on 17th November 2016