Kid's outdoor fun at Eco Festival
Published
Tuesday 22 October, 2024
Updated
Tuesday 22 October, 2024
Forty primary school pupils took part in a day of learning and outdoor fun at the first local Eco Festival in Milton Creek Country Park.
Swale Borough Council teamed up with School Games to host the festival for local year 5 and 6 children to learn about climate change and sustainability, whilst getting active outside.
The event was part of the School Games programme, which inspires millions of young people across the country to take part in school sport, and included fun activities such as plogging, bike riding, eco-stories, and forest activities.
Each child was given a bike, helmet and HI-Visibility jacket for the day and cycled, or taught to if they didn’t know how, while exploring a safe environment.
They also went “plogging” - jogging while collecting litter - around the beautiful country park, helping keep it clean and educating them about the negative impact that littering can have.
The schools were gifted some plogging equipment, litter pickers and litter bag hoops, so the students can create school clubs and continue collecting litter from their communities.
Swale Friends of the Earth held immersive eco story sessions, where they used music, stories and the children’s imaginations to transport them to places being impacted by climate change and teaching them why it is happening.
While Friends of Milton Creek Country Park held a workshop where children used twigs, sticks and rope to create nature photo frames.
The event created awareness about the importance of our environment whilst developing the students’ physical and social skills, promoting movement, teamwork, cooperation and leadership.
Cllr Rich Lehmann, chair of the council’s Environment and Climate Change Committee, said:
“Initiatives like our Eco Festival are incredibly important; they teach our children about the benefits of nature, help to get them active, and is also a great opportunity for them to socialise and make friends.
“Fun activities like this help build a positive relationship between the next generation and our environment and will help them grow up to respect and understand the importance of the nature around us.
“Keeping active is also key to the healthy development of children, so being able to tie in education on climate change, promoting green transportation, like cycling, with sport makes this a valuable project.
“Thank you to everyone involved, the Friends of Milton Creek, Swale Friends of the Earth, the schools, School Games, and of course our officers, for putting on such an amazing event.”
Claire Geeves, School Games organiser from Leigh Academies Trust, said:
“This was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with local stakeholders in the community and promote being more eco through physical activity.”
Dawn Day, a volunteer For Friends of Milton Creek Country Park, said:
“It was good to see local schools using the Country Park and we had a lot of fun with the children making picture frames.
“Lots of smiling excitable children, I am sure they all really enjoyed the first Eco Festival.”
