Become a Small Footsteps Champion! Summer Programme for 8-12 year olds
Small Footsteps 2021
Welcome to the 2021 Small Footsteps summer programme of activities for young people aged 8 – 12 years.
This year’s programme builds on earlier successful Small Footsteps programmes and is brought to you by Footsteps – Faiths for a Low Carbon Future and Central England Quakers.
We want to provide opportunities for young people to get together in their communities and open spaces to:
- have fun together,
- experience the natural world, and
- take something home with them.
We’re looking for host locations to join us: the programme consists of experienced facilitator-led activities that you can pick from to build your own events.
All activities are ‘hands-on’, practical and fun. One of the Small Footsteps 2017 young people said:
“I really like making things and like being with things, instead of being told about them. I prefer to actually like see them with my own eyes and feel them, touch them …..”
All children will receive a ‘Small Footsteps Champion’ badge and certificate of attendance.
There are still considerable uncertainties around Covid regulations this summer. We will continue to monitor these, and adjust our plans accordingly. The Small Footsteps programme is being launched in the summer, and we hope that it will continue into the future.
Footsteps and Quakers will meet the cost of the activites and can provide small grants towards other costs.
Activities
The programme consists of half day activities on different topics built around a number of themes. You can choose the activities that interest you and the young people you have contact with.
We are currently putting together the activities that will be offered this summer. Below is a preview of the type of activities that will be on offer:
Connecting with Nature
These practical actvities connect young people with the natural world around them, encouraging visits to local parks, open spaces, gardens and allotments.
Reducing our Footprint
These activities enable young people to learn how their home or community can manage waste better. They examine the impact of waste on the environment and explores actions to minimise the amount of waste that we produce and dispose of on a daily basis.
Earth-Friendly Skills
These activities provide opportunities for young people to develop practical skills that enable them to take action in their own homes, schools and communities to act as ‘earth ambassadors’.
Other activities may be available by discussion with Footsteps and the activity providers.
Each activity is delivered by an experienced teacher or facilitator and the 2021 Small Footsteps programme has been developed with Moving Souls Dance, The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS), Eco Birmingham, Forest Schools and other experienced providers as well as drawing on the Footsteps earlier experiences.
Arrangements & Cost
Next Steps
Footsteps will:
- Put activity providers in touch with hosts
- Meet delivery costs (subject to eligibility)
-
Provide publicity materials and flyers
Host locations will provide:
- Young people
- Venue
- Local leader
- Feedback to Footsteps afterwards
Activity providers will:
- Make arrangements for activities
- Deliver activities
- Bring any necessary materials
Eligibility
The Small Footsteps 2021 programme is part of Footsteps’ work bringing faith communities together for a just transition to a low carbon Birmingham. It is part of the city’s climate emergency declaration to achieve net Zero ‘making sure we take communities with us, protecting employment and without impoverishing deprived communities’
Footsteps and Central England Quakers will pay activity providers but do not have unlimited funds. Priority for funding will be given for events in economically disadvantaged areas of Birmingham and events that brings together young people from different communities and areas of Birmingham.
What is Small Footsteps?
The Small Footsteps Environmental Workshops are a series of interactive sessions covering various topics in relation to the environment. The aim of these workshops is to teach young people about the environment and how they can play a part in making the world a cleaner greener place.
These workshops go back to basics, to teach us and young people that even the smallest simplest changes in our lives can make a big difference to eco systems. The workshops aim to bring together young people from different faiths to unite for a cause that we all have a responsibility for. We are all different people, sharing one amazing planet and in many faith teachings, we are reminded to look after our environment.
The Small Footsteps workshops can be a powerful tool towards making positive changes for our environment. We often forget that the younger generations have a place in this battle to reduce effects of climate change. These workshops can help young people on their journey towards becoming environment and sustainability champions.
The topics covered in these workshops are not completely new to children. They would have learnt about energy, ecology, trees and the environment at school, in their science and geography lessons. What the workshops aim to do is to show the young people that these topics in practice affect their lives and the environment around them; and that caring for the environment is a shared value for people from different faiths.
Shabana Parveen – Small Footsteps 2017 leader
Shared Faith Values
Footsteps – Faiths for a Low Carbon Future is an interfaith group bringing together Birmingham’s faith communities to lower our carbon footprints and look after the beautiful world we live in.
All faiths value looking after the environment. Since the first Earth Day in 1970 the global faith community has been a critical voice in integrating environmental issues into political, social and economic agendas. For the past three years Footsteps has joined with others to celebrate world Earth Day.
On the Earth Day website you can hear faith leaders’ messages driving environmental change and caring for the environment and access faith community resources.
Here in Birmingham our 2021 Small Footsteps programme will give young people aged 8 – 12 years old opportunities to:
- Understand and appreciate the Natural World
- Reduce our Footprint on the Earth
- Develop Earth-friendly skills