Growing Little Green Champions: Planting Seeds for a Lifetime of Nature Connection
By the Community Facilitator for the Naturally Birmingham Future Parks Accelerator Project, Deborah Needle.
When I think about the future of Birmingham’s parks and green spaces, I don’t just see trees and wildflowers—I see small boots splashing in puddles, tiny hands picking up leaves, and wide eyes watching birds take flight. I see our Little Green Champions: the under-fives who are just beginning their journey with the natural world.
They might be tiny, but their curiosity is enormous. Whether they’re watching worms wiggle in the soil, running through fallen leaves, or helping water a tomato plant, these moments are more than just fun—they’re formative.
Because here’s what we know:
Kids need nature. And nature needs kids.
Why Nature Matters—Right From the Start
There’s a growing body of research that tells us what many parents and early years practitioners already feel in their bones—time spent in nature supports children’s physical health, boosts their social skills, sparks creativity, and nurtures emotional wellbeing.
As the National Trust puts it so beautifully:
“There’s a reason birdsong, rainfall and crashing waves are some of our favourite sounds. Nature makes us happy… and it’s not just for adults; children benefit from exploring nature too.”
When a child feels the smooth shell of a snail, smells damp earth after rain, or hears the splash of a stick in a stream, they are doing more than play—they’re laying down the roots of a lifelong relationship with the natural world.
Inspired by the Wild: The Vision Behind Little Green Champions
As part of the Future Parks Accelerator and the creation of the City of Nature Plan, we worked closely with the National Trust and other partners to shape a future where green spaces are an essential part of growing up in Birmingham.
Inspired by the National Trust’s “50 Things to Do Before You’re 11¾” campaign, we asked ourselves:
What if every child in Birmingham had the chance to do just 5 things before they turn 5? And what if they did those same things in every season, every year?
Not just once—but regularly. Joyfully. Naturally.
Because connecting with nature shouldn’t be a one-off trip—it should be part of childhood itself.
Introducing: 5 Things – 4 Seasons – Every Year
You don’t need a forest or a nature reserve to help a child fall in love with the outdoors. Your local park, garden, balcony, or even a tree-lined street will do. What matters is presence, play, and connection.
Here’s what we’re encouraging families and early years settings to try:
🌿 Get Moving – Jump in leaves, chase shadows, roll down hills. Move your body with joy in green spaces.
🌱 Grow Together – Plant something. Watch it grow. Learn how to nurture life, even in a pot on a windowsill.
🌼 Connect – Sit quietly and notice the sounds. Smell flowers. Look for bugs. Be in nature, together.
📚 Learn More – Name a tree. Spot a bird. Ask questions. Nature is full of stories waiting to be discovered.
📸 Share – Talk about your adventures. Draw them. Photograph them. Share the wonder with others.
Do each of these at least once in every season, every year. That’s the beginning of a powerful habit—and a lifelong bond.
Building a City That Grows With Its Children
Through the Naturally Birmingham project, we’ve helped ensure that families with young children are central to the City of Nature Plan. That means improving the quality and accessibility of green spaces, especially in areas where they’re most needed. It means supporting early years practitioners, parents, and carers with ideas, resources, and encouragement to get outdoors.
But more than anything, it means recognising that our children are not just future citizens—they are today’s nature stewards in the making.
As Sir David Attenborough said:
“No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”
We’re not just nurturing children—we’re growing care, connection, and community.
Join Us
Whether you’re a parent, carer, nursery worker, or community volunteer, we invite you to grow Little Green Champions with us.
🌍 Find your nearest green space using your postcode:
Find a park | Birmingham City Council
🌱 Try the 5 Things – 4 Seasons challenge with your under-5s—and let us know how you get on! We’d love to see your stories and photos.
Together, let’s raise a generation that runs wild, loves deeply, and fights fiercely for the natural world.
Because they’re not just playing in the park.
They’re planting the seeds of a greener future—for all of us.
Want to get involved or share your Little Green Champion story?
📩 Contact us at: Cityofnature@birmingham.gov.uk
🌿 Learn more at: https://naturallybirmingham.org/birmingham-city-of-nature-delivery-framework/
Get Moving – Example
Moving outside in green space is vital to aid childhood development. Muscles become stronger and heart and lungs become more efficient. Encouraging movement helps improve children’s balance, spatial awareness, core strength and coordination at the same time children develop their learning and emotional development skills. Not mention just running, jumping and having a great time.
Exploring brings all kinds of new wonders turning a walk in the park in to a sensory activity without even trying. An additional experience which allows the sense of taste to be part of the walk is preparing a no waste tasting box full of autumn fruits to try as you walk around the park. Depending on your child’s needs you can add cut up apples, pears, plums, blackcurrants, blackberries (or try small pots of jam) to a reusable container and use a fork or spoon to try different fruits, or make sure hands are clean if you don’t mind using fingers. If you can’t pick your own fruit at home, when you are buying fruit try and choose fruit that has the least packaging – just do what you can, it isn’t always easy.
Download an activity sheet here:
Grow Together
You can grow together a home, it’s really easy to get started. Here Humera and her son Esa show us how to grow a pepper plant:
The story of the very hungry caterpillar is a really well known book, you help bring it to life by thinking about all the different foods the caterpillar eats. This provides an opportunity to learn about how different plants grow, where do they grow, who eats them, make a waste free picnic and try out tasting different vegetables and fruit, in your home, garden or even more fun while your out and about in parks and green spaces.
Download your activity sheet here:
Connect – with nature
Often children will visit green spaces, but not always connect with their natural surroundings. Research has shown those who connect with their nature are more likely to have a positive and caring attitude towards their environment.
Using arts and crafts to think about nature can help us explore nature more deeply and start to make a better connection with it. Modelling animals helps to think about what an animal looks like. It doesn’t matter what the model or drawing looks like to us, it’s just thinking and talking about it that’s important.
Here you can watch Holly show us how to make a mud animal from natural clay:
Download your activity sheet here:
Learn More
Green spaces can provide great learning opportunities for children whether that be about nature, the wider natural world, the weather, seasons …the list goes on and on. Encouraging children to take part in activities where they can learn about green spaces helps to build a connection with nature. Let them explore and see what they can find.
Download your activity sheet here:
Share – shout about it!
It’s time to celebrate and share all of the exciting and wonderful things you’ve done together! We always like to have a hot chocolate and marshmallows (don’t forget to fill your thermos) sing songs, makes some leaf bunting and share our stories.
Download your activity sheet here:
Sharing our stories is a really important action – we want you to share with us what you like and what you don’t like. What you want more of and what you want less of. You can use the contact form at the bottom of this page to contact us.
Here a mom of our Little Green Champion “H” shares his adventures taking part in Teeny Explorer sessions at the Lickey Hills : The Story of H
Early Years Practitioners
Here is a taster of our “Growing Together” web based training session delivered in partnership with Birmingham City Council’s Early Years Team.
This short video is just to give you a feel of what the training covers:
If you are interested in joining an online Growing Together session please let us know
Naturally Birmingham Future Parks Project 