We know that children are happier, healthier and more creative when they are connected to nature. And nature improves our own wellbeing: a walk in the woods or a splash in a stream are the perfect tonic to our busy, modern world.

- Dr Jess French, NWT Children's Ambassador
And yet...

Children have far fewer opportunities than previous generations to explore and discover wildlife, spending much less time in the natural world.  In 2015, the wildlife trusts nationally researched the relationship between children and nature and found:
  • 37% of children had not played outside by themselves in the past six months
  • Less than 50% had been to a wild place with school to learn about wildlife in the past year and did not have an outdoor nature space at school
  • 37% had never seen a hedgehog
  • 78% of parents were concerned that children don’t spend enough time interacting with nature and wildlife
In 2016, NWT responded to these findings and led by our Vice President, John Snape, we established a new initiative: the Children And Nature Fund (CAN).

This fund, through donations from individuals and organisations, enables new projects that connect children of all ages with wildlife and wild spaces through education, activities and inspiration. These include working with the Food Bank to provide nature activities as part of Food and Fun in the School Holidays (FISH), and our flagship project, a Sure Start with Nature. Any money donated to the fund will be used on projects for children and where possible will be used to match fund grants to attract even more support.  

Can you help CAN?

By supporting the CAN fund and its future projects you can help us develop family learning, confidence and wellbeing and at the same time encourage communities to value their wildlife and green spaces.

John said: “NWT Children and Nature Fund is specifically dedicated to enabling children to learn about and experience the natural world, which is something that has become increasingly alien to them. I would invite you to make a contribution to this fund and help connect future generations with the wildlife that surrounds them.”

If you are able to support the Children And Nature fund, please use the form below and select Children And Nature from the dropdown of options. Thank you for supporting this incredible important initiative.