Inspiring the next generation of wildlife enthusiasts
Avon Wildlife Trust’s Eloise Jenninger is a Community Ecologist on the Nature Together Project. She works where science meets people, through workshops, surveys, training and nature stories. In this blog she updates on how play and flexibility got more children involved in their Greening Eastside workshop.
When the plan goes out the window (and that’s OK)
Sometimes you set out to lead a workshop and realise quickly that things aren’t going to go the way you imagined. The best thing to do? Embrace it.
On 1 April 2026, Jose Barco and I headed to Felix Road Adventure Playground in Easton to run a Wildlife Mapping session with children aged 3 to 12, as part of Greening Eastside and Nature Together. The idea was simple: give kids printed maps of the playground and ask them to record every bit of wildlife they spotted: plants, insects, butterflies, birds. We had promoted the event online, through the newsletter and Greening Eastside communications, and a few families had already signed up.
What we hadn’t quite accounted for was the playground itself.
The moment we arrived, it was clear this place had its own energy. Children were running, climbing, swinging, zooming past on bikes, sailing down the zip line. It was glorious, joyful chaos.
We started off with the four families, explaining the activity. But after a couple of minutes, they simply ran away to the fun exciting playground. So… we embraced it.
Taking the maps, clipboards and colouring pens with us, we started walking around in the attempt to rally a couple of children.
Things started to shift when I joined someone I’d met at the Greening Easton Seed Swap a few weeks before. We took some clipboards and started to chat to a young girl. We gave her our best pitch: “Do you want to look for bugs? We’re mapping the whole area, you can draw or write what you find. Like an ecologist. Like a treasure hunt!” She looked at me for a moment, slightly unimpressed, then said: “Sure.”
That was all we needed. She turned and hollered at her friends and siblings, and suddenly we had a crew of seven children ready to go on an adventure.
Our little band of ecologists covered a lot of ground. We peered into the small pond, safely caged off, and found… a badminton racket and algae. (The racket was ceremonially relocated to the football net in a throw.) We stood still and listened until we identified a blackbird singing from the top of the fort. We lifted a sofa and found a family of woodlice underneath. One child discovered nettles and I showed them the trick: touch the very top and the little hairs that cause the sting can’t get you. Jose added a brilliant detail from Colombia, where people use nettles to reinvigorate the body.
We crossed a rope bridge. We climbed the fort. We found Armand clematis growing up the side. A four-year-old tucked one of its flowers into my hair, which I wore proudly for the rest of the session.
When we gathered back at the tables to share our maps, the results were wonderful. [CJ1.1]Everyone reported their favourite find from the adventure. Snails came up again and again: one child had counted six. The clematis flowers got high praise too. And then one child asked, quietly but seriously: “Are humans part of nature?”
Yes, I told them. Absolutely yes.
She picked up her pen and wrote on the map, in large letters: “HUUUUMAAAAN.”
She was right. In that playground, on that afternoon, we were almost definitely the most visible species.
We wrapped up, the children went back to playing, and a few asked if they could have another map and do it all over again. Jose and I took a moment to reflect. It hadn’t gone exactly to plan, and it had been brilliant! We ended up reaching some families who weren’t originally signed them up to the activity and got them interested them in nature, exactly what it was meant to be!
Come and join us
Greening Eastside / Nature Together run free drop-in wildlife sessions in Easton on the first Wednesday of every month. Our next sessions are Wednesday 1 July and Wednesday 5 August 2026, booking recommended. Keep an eye on the Greening Eastside newsletter for updates and details of future events.
Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership and Greening Eastside are partners supporting Nature Together, helping to bring community nature projects like this to life across the city.
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