If children don't get their hands mucky how can we expect them to care about wildlife?

I have broken with tradition today and have invited a guest blogger, our Youth and Education PR Officer, Caroline Offord, to talk about our exciting Every Child Outdoors activities:

“Having access to discover, learn and play outdoors was an essential part of my childhood. I spent hours playing outside, pretending the tree at the end of our garden was The Magic Faraway Tree and would whisk me off to strange new worlds or that the circle of toadstools was a fairy ring and if I sat still and watched closely, one day I’d see them.

I never did see the fairies and apart from muddy knees and grass stains, I was never transported to faraway lands. But  I always appreciated the wildlife around me a little bit more from having had the chance to explore and play outside.

We’ve all heard the stories of unhealthy, inactive children attached to their computers and mobile phones. Children today – and many adults too – have less contact with the natural environment than any previous generation, this is despite all the evidence about the positive impacts contact with nature brings to a child’s education, health and wellbeing.

If a child hasn’t ever got their hands mucky, climbed a tree, discovered the darkness of a cave or felt sand between their toes, how can we expect them to care enough to protect wildlife?

Recent research by the RSPB found that there is overwhelming support for getting every child outdoors, with 92 per cent of the public agreeing that experiences of nature are still important to children today. 

More than four out of five people also agreed that schools should play a role in providing them to all children.

We believe that every child should have access to nature and tomorrow (Friday), the RSPB, the Field Studies Council and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust will respond to this demand by opening the doors to all their teaching sites and centres.

The RSPB President, Kate Humble, has given her support to the event. See how she got on at our Ynys-hir Nature Reserve with children from Warren Farm Primary School in our video:

School children have invited their local MP to come along and share an outdoor learning experience with them at our field teaching sites as part of a UK-wide initiative to get every child outdoors.

We hope these MPs will get their hands dirty and their feet mucky and see first-hand the enormous benefits to be gained from regular contact with nature for children and become champions for learning outside the classroom.

We were encouraged by the recent commitments made by Government in their Natural Environment White Paper to remove unnecessary rules and barriers to learning in the natural environment.

The RSPB is calling for three things: more room in the curriculum for this type of education, for teachers to be trained to feel confident and competent to teach outside the classroom, and for there to be a clear message from government that this kind of education is a vital part of children’s development.

We know that all children, given the right opportunity, love nature and being outdoors. It is vital they are given the opportunity, whether through their family or their school to benefit from real life “hands on” experiences where they can see, hear, touch and explore the world around them.

And, maybe one day, they’ll be luckier than me at spying those fairies!”

Thanks, Caroline! I’m looking forward to taking part in this. Tomorrow I’ll be at our Rainham reserve, where I’ll be joined by two local MPs, Jackie Price-Doyle and John Cruddas. I’ll tell you all about it, as I’m sure I’ll get my hands dirty...