hildren are spending more time indoors than outside and they are missing out on exploring the natural world. In fact, research found that 1 in 9 British children have not visited a beach, park or forest in twelve months, and on average a British child only spends 4 hours a week playing in the great outdoors. *
In a recent survey, asking 200 children between the ages of 4 to 8 years old to identify some of the creepy crawlies in Britain, 89% were unable to recognise a butterfly, 51% didn’t know what a bumblebee looks like and 29% didn’t realise that bees make honey. 59% of those surveyed admitted that they had never climbed a tree, 89% didn’t know what a buttercup was and 77% couldn’t identify a sunflower.**
One of our GoLandscape Ambassadors, Seonaid Royall from Sprout Up, is designing and creating a garden at this year’s RHS Hampton Flower Show. It’s called ‘Believe in Tomorrow’ and is a garden about reconnecting children with nature, education and sustainability. It’s going to be built using local primary school children and is a great opportunity to inspire the next generation to get outside and educate them about the importance of nature and the environment. After the show the garden will be broken up, redesigned and relocated to suit 5 community spaces and their specific needs to inspire more teachers and children to get into nature.
The project is well underway, but needs additional help with funding, please follow the link below and give whatever you can and help make the garden a reality and encourage the next generation.
* ‘MENE: A pilot for an indicator of visits to the natural environment by children- results from years 1 to 2 (March 2013-February 2015)’.
**National report conducted by Sudocrem, April 2018.
