Ditch the "stuff" - and head outdoors

Added on Friday 13 Jul 2012

Are your children bored with the summer holidays and cooped up indoors with their Nintendos and X-boxes?

If so a free event at North Kelvin Meadow on Sunday (July 15) could help to point youngsters towards a healthy range of exciting outdoor activities.

It's part of a wider bid to persuade parents to try and get their children to "ditch the stuff" - the electronic toys and phones that devour so much of their time and energy - and reconnect to normal pursuits like outdoor games and nature studies.

Dr Carol Craig from the Glasgow based think tank The Centre for Confidence and Well-being will be giving the opening talk at the event, and there will be workshops for children led by forest school educators on the theme of connecting children with nature.

There will also be stalls selling second hand outdoor gear and others hosted by many local outdoor organisations.

The event runs from 1pm to 4pm, and the itinerary is as follows -

  • 1pm - Arrive at Kelbourne Street Scout Hall: enjoy stalls with second hand outdoor gear, reports on nature and well-being, face painting. There will also be local organisations including Friends of the River Kelvin and the Children's Wood, plus more.
  • 1:30pm - Talk by Dr Carol Craig on materialism, nature and child wellbeing.
  • 1:45pm - Nature workshops begin on North Kelvin Meadow. Woodland Outdoor Kindergarten will be setting up camp in the Children's Wood. The National Trust for Scotland, Woodland Trust and several forest school educators will be hosting nature events in the meadow for ALL ages of children.
  • 3:30pm - Coffee and prize draws back in Kelbourne St Scout Hall.
  • Nature workshops include activities like 'den construction' and 'environmental art' 'bug hunt' 'finger puppets' and more.