An overwhelming number of children want to turn off the TV, put down their devices and spend more time outside exploring nature, a new research survey by the RSPB has revealed.

The RSPB’s Connecting Children with Nature partnership – a £2m project funded by discount supermarket Aldi – which has over the past two years helped over 240,000 children take their first steps on their own wild adventure found that 85% of children who took part wanted to spend more time outside in nature.

The project survey, which quizzed over 1000 school children and teachers about their nature experience session with the RSPB, revealed that 86% of pupils learnt something new about nature that they didn’t know before, while the overwhelming majority of teachers agreed that taking part in lessons outdoors increased children’s confidence.

• 85% of school children agreed that they want to spend more time outside in nature.
• 86% of school children agreed that they learnt things about nature that they didn’t know before.
• 91% of teachers agreed that they want to spend more time teaching outside.
• 83% of teachers agreed that taking part in lessons outside increases children’s confidence.
• 98% of teachers rated the school outreach sessions as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’.

In recent years, a number of studies have revealed the amount of time British children are spending outside exploring nature is on the decline. To encourage more children and their families to swap the sofa for the great outdoors, the RSPB launched Connecting Children with Nature, which has to date seen children across Britain spend more than 360,000 hours outside on their own nature adventure.

To allow children to explore the outdoors, learn new skills and try something different like their parents and grandparents did, the partnership funded a number of activities. Since its launch, a schools’ outreach programme has seen RSPB-trained staff and volunteers deliver free, 90-minute nature experience sessions to more than 1000 schools in 17 cities across England, Wales and Scotland.

To help children and their families to embark on their own wild adventure away from the classroom, the partnership also launched the Wild Challenge this Easter. Consisting of 24 activities from minibeast safaris and rock pooling to creating a hedgehog café and planting for wildlife, the challenge allows families to go on their own wild adventure taking them from their own back garden to exploring towns, cities, woodlands and even the coast. So far, 44,000 Wild Challenge actions have been taken in gardens and communities.

Martyn Foster, RSPB Head of Education, Families and Youth, says: “Children will always remember their first discoveries when out getting wild in nature – from the thrill of finding a blitz of bugs under a rock to spotting a family of starlings furiously flying around in search of their next meal. With the positive impact nature has on children’s learning, physical health and emotional wellbeing it is more important than ever that we are helping young people to experience, learn and value the natural world.”

Proceeds from Aldi’s carrier bag sales across the UK are expected to see the charity receive donations in excess of £2m over a three-year period.

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Innocent drinks and not-for-profit organisation Grow It Yourself have joined forces with blogger and chef Emily Leary to launch this year’s “Sow & Grow” campaign.

The partnership plans to get 25% of all UK primary schools to embrace the outdoors and grow their own vegetables. It will be supported by PR activation, on-pack promotion, a digital interactive hub and primary school outreach.

Sim Viney, brand manager at Innocent, said: “We know that children who grow their own food are more likely to eat fruit and veg, and that kids who develop healthy habits at a young age are more likely to become healthy adults.

Viney adds: “At the moment nine out of 10 young people are not getting their 5-a-day, so we’ve started a campaign called Sow & Grow, which will get a quarter of all primary school kids growing veg in their classrooms, and learning where their food comes from. We’re hoping the campaign itself will grow in future years – our ultimate goal is to get every primary school child in the country to experience growing their own veg.”

Throughout the campaign, parents and teachers will be given the opportunity to share their photos at innocentsowandgrow.com. There will also be chances to win monthly prizes and see their classroom crowned as “Sow & Grow” champions later this summer.

The Sow & Grow campaign was launched into the UK last year (with Lorraine Pascale as celebrity ambassador), but Innocent and GIY have been partners in a version of the scheme run in Ireland since at least 2012.

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Heinz Tomato Ketchup is launching its ‘Grow Your Own’ promotional campaign across the UK from March 2017.

This year (the fifth in a row the activity has run) will see more than 500,000 tomato seed packs given away to schools and consumers. The idea is that by inspiring families to grow tomatoes together and care for their very own Heinz tomato plants, Heinz reinforces the message that every bottle of its world-famous ketchup is packed full of freshly-grown delicious sun-ripened Heinz tomatoes.

Now in its fifth year, ‘Grow Your Own’ will be leveraged across multiple platforms including social media and digital advertising. New for 2017 is brand new educational programme partnering schools with the recently launched Heinz Tomato Ketchup 50% Less Sugar & Salt variant.

Committed to educating children about the importance of the journey of food from field to fork, the ‘Grow Your Own’ educational campaign will be brought to primary schools across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Through stories and a series of fun hands-on science-led activities, pupils will explore the journey of the humble tomato, discovering all the goodness it brings to mealtimes. Schools which sign up to join the campaign will get a comprehensive guide from mid-March with printed and downloadable material to engage pupils.

A range of classroom activity sheets, seed packs and branded growing pots will support teachers looking to create a positive learning experience for children and help to deliver a core curriculum subject. Projected to drive awareness within 2,000 primary schools, the educational programme will reach more than 240,000 pupils and their families.

The first 2,000 schools which register will get 120 plant pots, 124 packets of tomato seed and supporting educational material.

In addition, 10 schools will be selected as ambassadors for the campaign, receiving £100 for gardening supplies plus free gardening equipment in return for providing regular updates on the progress of their seedlings for use on the campaign microsite, www.nationalschoolspartnership.com/growyourown.php

Schools and parents will be driven to the ‘Grow Your Own’ microsite where they can sign up to the initiative to receive Heinz tomato seeds. The campaign will also be highlighted on Facebook with an inspirational social video used to educate consumers around its core ‘Heinz Tomato Story’. The humorous video answers the question ‘Where does Heinz Tomato Ketchup come from?’ and features children from a variety of nationalities, feeding their curiosity as to how Heinz Tomato Ketchup is made.

To enhance engagement, consumers will be able to enter a variety of online competitions to win a selection of Heinz gardening merchandise.

The ‘We’ll Bottle It’ competition is also returning for 2017; consumers will be encouraged to upload pictures of their homegrown Heinz tomatoes to Facebook to be in with the chance of winning a unique personalised bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup, made using their own tomatoes.

The winning tomatoes will be harvested and transported to the Kraft Heinz culinary centre of excellence in Nijmegen, Netherlands where a team of expert chefs will handcraft the exclusive bottle of ketchup.

Ashley White, Marketing Manager at brand owner Kraft Heinz, comments: “The Heinz Tomato Ketchup ‘Grow Your Own’ campaign is a hands-on initiative which not only gets families involved in a fun food-based educational activity, it also helps drive core messaging that every bottle of our ketchup is packed full of delicious sun-ripened tomatoes to give it the unique flavour that consumers love time and time again.”

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