Creative Learning
At ecobirmingham we are committed to improving access to and understanding of the natural world for people across the city. Using forest school, craftivism and permaculture principles, we teach about conserving the environment through experiential learning and habitat creation.
Our Creative Learning activities are aimed at children and their families across Birmingham to go their sustainability journey together, from toddlers to adults.
Forest School
Wild Bunch is our successful programme of all-outdoor activities for children aged from 4 to 15 years.
Inspired by Forest School principles (eg. regularity, nature-based, supported risk taking, holistic learning approach, led by Level 3-trained forest school practitioners) and supports nature connections through the seasons and across Birmingham for children aged 4-15 and occasionally their grown-ups.
The WILD BUNCH progamme is made up of following activities:
- Family Wild Bunch – weekly forest school activities for children aged 4+ and one grown-up, giving families, especially home educating families, opportunities to connect with nature, learn from and with it, and spend valuable time with other home-ed families.
- Wild Holiday Bunch (WHB), the flagship of our forest school programme, is an all-outdoor holiday club for children aged 6+ and taking place during school holidays across the year.
- Young Bunch (YB) was added to the programme in 2025 and, delivered in a similar format to WHB during school holidays. YB offers adventurous teens the opportunity to continue their nature journey and make real friendships in a safe space.
Last year, 96% of all WHB participants told us that spending time in nature made them happier and 80% said that it inspired them to explore their green spaces more.
“Being outdoors and learning about nature, being given a sense of responsibility and freedom. A. has really enjoyed her time and is already asking to join again. Out of all the holiday clubs she has joined this Summer, Wild Holiday Bunch was her favourite.”
Parent of WHB participant JUL24
“I LOVE a Forest school setting for teens. This is JUST what they need. (…) Please can you run more sessions like this – it’s perfect for the teenage years where the teens are not catered for at traditional forest schools (which usually have an upper age limit of 12)…yet they are too young to join in adult outdoor activities. It’s a bit of a black hole so please, PLEASE do more outdoor activities where lines of communication can be opened up between people of all backgrounds, sensibilities and abilities.”
Parent of YB participant AUG25
Find out more information and dates for all our bookable activities on the Events’ page or get in touch if you would like more information about our forest school programme.
Stories 4 Nature
Stories for Nature (S4N) is a programme of 12 x 1-hour weekly nature play sessions using the power of stories to introduce empathy towards the natural world and improve nature literacy in pre-schoolers.
Ideally we like to offer the programme to children and their grown-ups as we recognise that parental nature connectedness is the strongest predictor of whether a child will later become close to nature. Inspiring not just the children but their grown-ups too will therefore ensure continuity in exploring green spaces, reliving the stories together and, in the future, valuing these spaces where positive memories were built.
“The children were able to gain positive insight on their local environment, they enjoyed using the natural materials to enhance the stories. They learnt through song and expression, I think more sessions would encourage the children to show more empathy within (towards) their local environment. Thank You!!!”
Mini Springers Nursery staff where S4N was delivered Spring 2023
If you know a group meeting in any Birmingham area who could benefit from the Stories 4 Nature programme lets have a chat.
Environmental workshops
We offer a range of interactive workshops aimed at gaining knowledge on environmental issues such as climate change, waste, energy, food, transport, nature to your pupils or service users.
All workshops are curriculum relevant, and we will work closely with you to tailor them to your needs.
The current fee (26/27) for a one-hour workshop with a maximum of 30 KS1 pupils is £125 which includes planning, materials and delivery.
Get in touch if your school would like to discuss our environmental workshops.
Young Craftivists workshops
These workshops are aimed at existing community youth groups (aged 8+) looking at engaging their service users in environmental action through the power of craft and creativity. The programme will inspire participants to look at their own neighbourhood and identify environmental issues they would like to raise awareness about.
Working with artists, the young people will then be supported to create a piece of art, upcycling materials. The completed artwork can either be used to create a trail across the neighbourhood or displayed for an exhibition, opening discussions around the chosen topic and inspiring positive actions.
“Using all these recycled things shows how much rubbish we are throwing away. We need to recycle more if we are going to save wildlife and stop animals like polar bears becoming extinct.
I’ve learnt so much interesting stuff at Craftivism I want to help save the environment for a job.
What we need to understand is that children and adults need to work together to ensure we grow and evolve on a healthy planet.”
Oscar, 9, Mini-Craftivist Club participant, 2018
Get in touch if you would like more information or to discuss costs for our young craftivists workshops.
Partnerships
Our Creative learning team is always busy behind the scenes working with other community organisations and their service users.
In 2024/25 we supported The Springfield Project with their Child Friendly Neighbourhood project, led by children, to improve the quality of their childhood experiences, their development outcomes and inspire them to become active citizens.
ecobirmingham was supporting the environment strand of the project by offering additional outdoor activities, contributing to the improvement of Sparkhill’s green spaces working with children and young people to think of additional improvements to their local environment.
Check the Eucalyptus Corner blog, one of the projects our Creative Learning team was involved with, helping improve a pocket green space in Sparkhill.
Our Creative Learning team are also eco-literacy Champions for the National Literacy Trust, who supports our projects such as Stories 4 Nature with relevant donated books while we support their projects with various workshops.
In 2024, ecobirmingham and the Birmingham team of the National Literacy Trust delivered an outdoor storytelling session at Kings Norton Nature Reserve to 150 local primary school pupils taking place at Kings Norton Nature Reserve and resulting in the creation of an activity booklet to inspire the pupils (the big majority had never been to the reserve) to visit again to connect with nature at their doorstep.
In 2023, a nature poetry workshop working alongside then Birmingham Young Poet Laureate, Iona, introduced a group of young people from the Masefield Community Centre to nature poetry, using a trail of haiku and inspiring them to write how nature made them feel.
Resources – Free to download and share!
- Nature explorers activity booklet & map – Small Heath. In partnership with Natural England
- Activity sheet & map – Kings Norton Nature Reserve. In partnership with the National Literacy Trust
Keep an eye on our events page and follow us on social media to find out about forthcoming events and activities you can join or if you would like a quote to bring Wild Bunch forest school days to your group we would love to hear from you.
Project gallery
