Twenty children, a week in Ardgillan and a lot of clay, paint, plants, bats and bicycles make for a very special Sustainable Skerries summer project in August. Now in its third year, the idea behind the nature camp is to give children the chance to get outdoors, get creative and have fun in nature.

Over the course of the week, the children took part in a wide range of activities, like nature walks, tree art, yoga, bird watching and lots more. They learned about bats and the important role they play in our ecosystems. They also had the opportunity to start learning about wildflowers with Zoë Devlin’s fabulous plant ID book, Wildflowers of Ireland. Identifying wild plants is a lovely way for children to start noticing what is growing all around us.

Sustainable Skerries believe there is something really valuable about giving children this kind of experience. Children get to understand nature as somewhere to be creative, discover wildlife, make things with natural materials, relax in and enjoy. Sustainable Skerries also hope that an annual camp can help children build curiosity, develop an appreciation for local biodiversity and understand why looking after our environment matters.

The 20 places were snapped up within minutes, which shows the appetite for opportunities like this in our community.

The week was made possible through very generous support from Fingal County Council, which sponsored the project and provided the permits to use the grounds at Ardgillan. That support is essential to running an event like this.
Amy and Edel from Colour and Art (https://www.colourandart.ie/) led the activities and were inspiring, encouraging and kind while giving the children plenty of room to be themselves. Pauline, Ciara and Breda were the Sustainable Skerries volunteers who organised and helped run the event.

And the week didn’t finish in the usual way. On the last day, the children visited an open orchard with Sabine (Skerries Open Orchard Project / Sustainable Skerries) before heading off on a fun cycle with Michael, Dave and Steve of Skerries Cycling Initiative. They cycled down to South Strand, where they enjoyed being outdoors and got to see some of the other community projects happening in Skerries, including the Community eCargo Bike, the Cycling Without Age Trishaw and the Sustainable Skerries Beach Toy Box.

There is something heartening about seeing a group of young children getting excited about birds, wildflowers, trees, clay, bicycles and the beach. They were learning and discovering all week, but it never felt like school.

If you’d like to be among the first to know about such projects, make sure to subscribe to the Sustainable Skerries Email Newsletter!