New programme to connect children with nature
The Royal Society for Arts (RSA) has announced the start of its Playful Green Planet programme, which aims to transform how children connect with nature and community through outdoor creative play.
The programme is run in partnership with the Eden Project and Bath Spa University, with support from The National Lottery Community Fund.
The project is the first of its kind in the UK and will identify areas of land in urban and economically disadvantaged areas, drawing on the expertise and talents of local artists to transform those spaces into ecologically thriving outdoor playrooms and classrooms that grow children’s capabilities and social activism.
The programme’s first two sites will be in Coldside, one of Dundee’s most economically disadvantaged areas, and a set of sites across Hull. These will be transformed into nature-based play spaces inspired by Forest of Imagination’s ‘mini Edens'.
Each of these areas' transformations will be led by Playful Green Planet Stewards - local environmental and social experts - to ensure spaces and experiences are co-created with local children.
In Hull, the transformation will be led by leading experts from the University of Hull’s School of Education. Their aim is to support young children's learning through the creation of ‘environments of inquiry’ across the university’s green sites, drawing on a strong network of pupils, teachers, schools and local authorities.
In Dundee, the stewards will be a coalition between the Maxwell Community Centre and Garden, and ‘Toadstool Trails’ – a project led by local artist Suzanne Scott and the Dundee Medical School Healthcare Improvement Team.
The first phase of this project will aim to reach 2000 children after the first year, with a view to expanding this reach to 200,000 in five years as the initiative secures partnerships for more sites around the country, working in partnership with the charity Land Trust.
Joanna Choukeir, Director of Design and Innovation at the RSA, said: “We are so excited to begin work on Playful Green Planet and are enormously grateful to The National Lottery Community Fund for the support to make this work happen.
“With our partners, we want to equip a generation of young leaders with the confidence and capabilities to connect with, care for, and regenerate people, places and planet.
“We look forward to announcing more detail as we put plans into action over the course of the next year”.
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