“Project Wild Thing” is a rapidly growing movement which exists to champion children and young people’s connection with nature. The movement began with the launch of the feature-length documentary film “Project Wild Thing”- a witty, thought-provoking, at times sad, but ultimately uplifting look at how children today are so preoccupied with technology that they are losing their connection with the natural world. The “Wild Network” is a collection of individuals, groups and organisations (including the RSPB) who all support the sentiment behind the movement. Anyone can join – it currently has 6,939 members. Hopefully, by the time you read this, it will be over 7,000.
So i attended the first ever “Swarm” for The Wild Network, a weekend in Bristol of ‘creative collaboration’ between environmental education teachers, Scout leaders, the National Trust, the Wildlife Trusts, authors, illustrators, computer whizz-kids, parents, storytellers, techno-geeks, musicians and many, many more. “Our mission for the two days was simple - to develop ideas to help children ‘to roam free and to play wild’, and to support parents, guardians and teachers in providing the kinds of nature experiences that we, the older generation, all had as children.
It was just amazing watching all these very different people, from such varying occupations and backgrounds work together for a common goal - to get children outdoors and into nature. They worked us hard and we managed to dream up many different ways to engage children, from making it easier for teachers to include Wild Time in their lesson plans, to developing an iPhone app called a “Nudge From Nature”! “
If you haven’t seen the film yet, then visit the website to see if there is a screening of the film somewhere near you, or you can purchase a DVD of the film from any RSPB shop, go to http://projectwildthing.com/ to find out more.
Below - the 'swarm' in Bristol