The campaign calls for a Nature Premium to fund regular nature experiences for every child.
The campaign is independent of any organisation but is underwritten by the Forest School Association, it is managed by volunteers who have seen how children benefit from playing in nature.
"We believe that the Nature Premium would improve children’s mental and physical well-being after lockdown and demonstrate a positive investment in their future development as part of the Green Recovery."
Lily Horseman, Chair of the Forest School Association.
More on the Nature Premium
Research from Natural England and academics has demonstrated that time in nature:
improves children's mental and physical well-being
results in happier and healthier children
builds resilience and sets the children up ready to learn
actively engages the next generation to build nature-centric communities
The Nature Premium, using the Sports Premium model, will engage children and young people in protecting and promoting biodiversity, supporting the development of the UK's natural capital for future economic gain.
We want to improve our information & resources on access & diversity in the outdoors. As always, you are the experts - please recommend projects & groups / organisations / reports & research / videos, blogs & articles etc, on inclusion, diversity and access, particularly for groups that are often under represented in the outdoors, Forest Schools, and outdoor play and learning.
This could include:
Black people and people of colour
people with physical disabilities and/or learning difficulties
We'll add them to the resources we already have on the Outdoor Hub, which you can currently find in our Health & Wellbeing information pages and links pages - do take a look and see if there is anything we should add. Thank you.
Photo is from North Scarle primary school - the winner of our 2019 Mud Day photo competition in which we particularly encouraged entries of photos from under-represented groups.
Mud Tips Competition
To gather all the amazing learning from last month's Mud Day, we've extended the deadline for our Mud Tips competition to 31 July.
Our one stop shop has a diverse selection of practical, educational and inspiring products for all your forest school, outdoor play and learning requirements.
Bench made from oak, engraved with a lovely design, with a sweet chestnut shelf, all from sustainable grown UK-wood. Also comes with a nature table sign.
Our Outdoor Hub is free to everyone and packed full of literally hundreds of step-by-step, photo-illustrated activities. You don't have to be out in an amazing Forest School or woodland setting, most of the activities can be done at home, in a yard or garden, many of them can be adapted and done indoors.
We really do encourage you to get outside if you can - the benefits to your health and wellbeing are huge - you can read all about them on the Outdoor Hub here.
Our activities are organised in categories so you can find what you need, or use our keyword search (scroll down the left hand menu) to follow your children's interests.
The Outdoor Hub has a wealth of inspiring activities, events and information. Each section has been designed to encourage engagement in the outdoors, connection with nature and to help spark imaginative play and creativity.
Nature
Useful information about flora and fauna, identifications guides and useful websites. What about connection to nature and its benefits? We have dedicated sections about Health & wellbeing, Outdoor play and Learning outdoors.
Signposting you to the main national bodies, key organisations, initiatives and websites in the world of sustainability, environment, nature & conservation outdoors.
We do our best to keep these links up to date. If you find any broken links, or have a suggestion of a link to add, please email share@muddyfaces.co.uk with ‘links’ in the subject line. Thank you.