Outdoor classrooms on canals

Outdoor classrooms on the canals

Children love to spend time by water. Fishing or pond-dipping from the bankside. Playing pooh-sticks on a bridge. Perhaps taking to the water on a narrowboat or discovering how a lock works. And thanks to our Explorers education programme, our waterways are becoming wonderful outdoor classrooms.

“There’s so much to explore on the canal for children of all ages,” explains our participation manager for learning and skills, Annette Simpson. “We can help younger ones build their own canal in sand as part of a transport topic. Or learn about waterway wildlife as they look at nature and habitats. For the older children, there are STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) lessons all around you on the canal network. At different levels, children of every age need to learn about the history and geography of canals that helped create the place they live. There are important life lessons to learn too, especially around water safety, wellbeing and citizenship.” After the Explorers programme had to go online during lockdown to support teachers, children and home-schooling parents, Annette is delighted to be helping children get back outdoors again.

“Obviously lockdowns due to Covid-19 had a massive impact on children’s wellbeing. Teachers and parents are really understanding that learning by the canal is a great way to help them feel calm and happy again.

“That’s why we’ve just launched a five-day wellbeing learning activity programme that teachers can deliver themselves using their local canals. We encourage children to explore

“The canal ticks so many boxes. Their mental health, self-esteem, general fitness and wellbeing. There is nothing else like this.”

Primary school teacher

nature around them and the impact this has on their wellbeing. They take part in canal and river yoga, striking poses in the shapes of bridges, frogs, boats and butterflies. There’s a mindfulness exercise that’s just about sitting still, breathing, listening and noticing. For the older groups, we offer activities like canoeing or kayaking that are great fun and really good for building confidence and a sense of adventure again.” One of Annette’s newest areas of work came from listening to what matters most to the children themselves. She explains: “They’ve told us they are really interested in things like climate change and want to be actively involved in doing something to help. So now we’re looking into more age-appropriate volunteering opportunities on the canals, six-week or six-month proenvironmental programmes helping out on the canal. Not just for schoolchildren but also for uniformed groups like Scouts or Guides too. At the same time, we’re launching a School Plastics Challenge and pocket adoptions. Schools or groups can adopt a short stretch of their local canal and the children can design their own improvements. They might plant a mini-garden where they grow their own fruit or vegetables or create an artwork or nature area. They have some control over it and decide what they want their canal to look like.” So it’s shaping up to be a busy few months of learning on our canals. And there’s room for the children’s guardians to get involved with hundreds of free activities and ideas to download from the Explorers website. Alternatively, if you have experience working with children, you might want to help young Explorers as one of our education volunteers. Visit the Explorers website to find out more.

Explorers in numbers

• Over 3,000 schools are located within just 1km of a canal or river Thanks to your support:

• Over 500,000 children have participated in the Explorers programmes since 2012 • Over 12,000 students took part in our online learning sessions during lockdowns