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Bethia: Ah, the summer holidays.... Do you long for it or dread it!? We are a few weeks in and I have certainly found myself trying to control my wild children and being really tempted to step away and say loudly “whose are those wild kids, that is SO embarrassing for someone.”
But I didn’t. I’ve got this. The summer holiday is The Balance - from September till July it’s all routines, classes and timetables and Everything Else gets squeezed into frantic weekends. The summer holiday is a long and brilliant opportunity to get the ‘Everything Else’ out, shake off the dust and give it some real attention. Things like really good quality time with the kids, sleep, quality time with friends and family who live far away, trips, building skills and introducing them to ideas that they don’t get enough of, or at all at school, getting out into new landscapes etc. There are a lot of important things that get side-lined when time is tight.
Planet & People CIC is running a summer holiday club next week to try and provide some balance to the exposure and information your children are getting at the moment - we are offering a whole day on 25th August 2021 at 10am - 4pm for children aged 5 - 11 years (although younger ones can come too as long as they're accompanied by an adult). It will be entirely focused on connecting, understanding, observing, engaging and thinking about the Earth and how we live on it. It’s the summer holidays so it won’t be an extension of school - but it will be an opportunity to spend time focusing on a really urgent issue we have at the moment which is how can we live more lightly. We will follow our usual structure:
L - Learn - taking an honest look at the challenges we are currently facing but adding a positive spin and looking at what is being done and what is working - giving hope!
O - Observe - looking more closely and understanding more deeply our reliance and connection to the natural world - it provides all the essentials we need for life!
V - inVolve - empowering us to speak up and use our voices to spread the message far and wide - we’re all in this together!
E - Enjoy - play, fun, creativity and joy is the natural outcome when you take a group of children, add some outdoor space, and the smallest bit of structure - enjoyment happens!
If you also feel concerned that your children are not getting enough quality education and tools for living in the context of an environmental crisis then have a look at our Planet Action Summer Club (https://www.planetandpeople.co.uk/event-details/planet-action-holiday-club) We will focus on being POSITIVE and PRACTICAL as we believe that those are the most empowering and effective approaches to take. Hope to see you there! Most of all we are keen just to get the message out. LOVE the Earth.
We want to make our events and workshops as accessible as possible so we are asking for donations only. Pay what you can. We thrive on donations to keep our work going. You can donate on our homepage - thank you in advance! Also, look out for our Crowdfunder - we have been selected by Devon County Council to feature in their #backthefuture Climate Challenge and match funding opportunity. Keep an eye out and support us where you can.
FOR PLANET AND PEOPLE is a weekly blog conversation by ‘Planet & People’ to reflect our values and behaviours and encourage open conversation on topical eco-issues.
We are the creators of 'Planet Action Kit', inspiring kids to LOVE the Earth. PAK is an educational resource and subscription activity box providing personalised learning resources engaging budding planet-friendly kids. The activities focus on the four main themes: Love, Observe, inVolve and Enjoy and are centred around matters of environment and sustainability.
Find out more on our Website, Facebook group, and Instagram Feed.