Leafy Legends: Children’s Stories in Nature ( RSA PGP steward Bid)

Project Description

Playful green planet is an ambitious intervention to transform how primary schools and early years settings foster a connection to nature and community through creativity.

In partnership with the Eden Project, Bath Spa University, House of Imagination and HundrED, RSA are seeking Stewards to pilot a project outdoor learning in Hull and the Humber region, this stewardship is one of only two nationally and will establish us as key players in the project which has ambitions to extend internationally .

Playful green planet is an ambitious intervention to transform how primary schools and early years settings foster a connection to nature and community through creativity.

In partnership with the Eden Project, Bath Spa University, House of Imagination and HundrED, we’re seeking funding partners to help us realise this bold new vision for whole-school and whole-place settings.

This project proposes to enhance participation in green spaces for children, families, and early childhood providers and trainers in the Hull and Humber regions of the United Kingdom. The Playful green planet project will design and deliver place-based activities that encourage learning through play and access to nature. Global in its long-term ambition, we will pilot this work in Hull, creating curricula, learning tools, and access to nature in our outdoor learning site to support early years settings, using the opportunities in the natural world to support future change agents.

Focused on delivering the three pillars of the PGP project, we will:
•Utilise our dedicated green space (UoH Botanic Gardens) to facilitate nature connection in one of the most disadvantaged cities in the UK (PGP Pillar 1)
•Include children, families and early childhood providers to build community connection, expanding the benefits of the project beyond the day(s) of participation (PGP Pillar 2)
•Empower participants with creative opportunities by supporting cultural expression and storytelling from children (PGP Pillar 3)
•Embrace the heart of the RSA’s Design for Life mission, by unlocking the confidence, capabilities and connections of children to provide an impetus for long-term change in our local community.

To deliver this project will integrate two theoretical approaches to working with children in green spaces.
Child Lore - The first approach is known as Child lore. Child Lore (Opie,1959), describes the traditional knowledge and cultural expressions shared among children, this plays a vital role in their social development and their understanding of the world.
The Lundy Model - Integrating child lore into the Playful Green Planet project, guided by our second theoretical model, The Lundy model (Lundy, 2007) of Participation, can create a rich, culturally meaningful green project space that reflects and enhances children's cultural heritage and creativity. This will ensure that children's voices and cultural expressions are central to the design and use of this space.

This PGP Stewardship will be driven by an experienced team with access to dedicated outdoor spaces with some of the UK’s most deprived neighbourhoods on the doorstep. By fostering a multi-professional approach, training a range of staff and students and supporting families to apply the model, we will endeavour to create safe, inclusive, meaningful experiences in natural environments that are fun and inclusive. This project will not only enhance the well-being of children but also set a precedent for participatory practices in early childhood education and care in natural environments in the city of Hull and beyond.

Implementing and integrating the Lundy model and encouraging children to share their experience of Child Lore, will help to increase participation in green spaces in a play based, meaningful and fun way. Doing so represents a significant step towards empowering children and ensuring their voices are heard and respected in relation to their own personal stories and the spaces they inhabit.