Let's get Every Child Outdoors at RSPB Middleton Lakes

Image: David McHugh (rspb-images.com) 

Children need nature.  Nature needs children.

I meant to get this post written several days ago, but better late than never!  It’s quite long, but this is at the heart of what RSPB Middleton Lakes is about.

Last Friday, some of the UK’s biggest environmental education organisations - the RSPB, the Field Studies Council and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust - joined forces in a UK-wide initiative to get every child outdoors and experiencing nature first-hand, throwing open the doors to all their teaching sites and centres.  School teachers are calling for more outside facilities to ensure all children have the opportunity to learn outdoors and have contact with nature, and events last week won that cause a lot of support, with local MPs invited along too to witness the quality of the sessions delivered.

RSPB Middleton Lakes enthusiastically played its part by welcoming students and teachers from local school Nicholas Chamberlaine Technology College.  The feedback was glowing.  Highlights the kids mentioned included pond dipping, hunting out all sorts of creatures – and playing pooh sticks.

Remember doing those kind of things when you were small?  A wealth of research suggests that today’s children are impoverished in terms of opportunities to connect with nature.  The RSPB’s Every Child Outdoors report draws together the conclusions of that research, as well as the results of Ipsos MORI research commissioned by the RSPB.  If you’re interested, you can find the report under ‘Downloads’ in the right-hand column here.

But here are a few key conclusions for now:    

Education: “First-hand experiences… can help to make subjects more vivid and interesting for pupils and enhance their understanding… [and] could make an important contribution to pupils’ future economic wellbeing and to preparing them for the next stage of their lives.”  (Ofsted, 2008)

Health and wellbeing: “Children increase their physical activity levels when outdoors and are attracted to nature… All children with ADHD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] may benefit from more time in contact with nature…”  (Bird, 2007)

Personal and social skills: “Experience of the outdoors and wild adventure space has the potential to confer a wide range of benefits on young people… Development of a positive self-image, confidence in one’s abilities and experience of dealing with uncertainty can be important in helping young people face the wider world and develop enhanced social skills.” (Ward, Thompson et al, 2006)

So that’s why children need nature.  Why does nature need children?  In short, they’re tomorrow’s conservationists.  How are they going to passionate about nature if they rarely experience it?

“Children’s knowledge of biodiversity is in decline at a time when we need future generations to be more engaged and aware in order to halt its loss. There is a very real need to educate our children as the future guardians of our planet, to provide them with the knowledge they need today to preserve the natural world for tomorrow.”
Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity

“Children’s view of nature is increasingly distant, abstract, and utilitarian. However affluent, their lives are impoverished by diminishing contact with nature.  Their imaginations, stimulated by television and computers, are being impoverished ecologically, socially, and spiritually.”
Professor David W. Orr, Environmental Studies and Politics, Oberlin College, Ohio

If that sounds like any children you know – your own, your nieces and nephews, your friends’ – then it’s time to get them outdoors!  Summer’s here and it’s amazing.  In the last few weeks down on the reserve, in the play meadow, I’ve found electric blue damselflies, sleepy grass snakes under the refugia, tiny frogs and one very big toad, a mouse nest complete with baby mice and a LOT of interesting bugs and beetles I still need to look up, not to mention swallows swooping and skimming all around and the herons regularly flapping over.  There’re log piles to investigate, a den building area, and – most people’s favourite – the great tangly tree to clamber on.  You’ve got an hour or two of happy exploration for any child right there, and you’re still within minutes’ walk of the car and, more importantly, the Courtyard Cafe and its very lovely cake. 

So, consider this a call to arms!  What about telling your kids’ school about the Living Classroom that Middleton Lakes offers, or encouraging it to take part in the Big Schools Birdwatch next winter?  Ever thought about supporting the RSPB as a Wild Family or signing up the kids as Wildlife Explorers?  Makes a great birthday or Christmas present...  You could also have a look at the RSPB’s children’s website for some wild ideas of things to do closer to home, like getting your hands messy making birdfood for the garden.  Children can even work towards their own Wildlife Action Awards - you'll find all the details there.

Or, if you found this post so inspirational you want to get involved yourself, get in touch with the reserve – our Lifelong Learning Officer, Becca, is looking for some more education volunteers!