Vango has teamed up with Britain’s largest outdoor learning organisation Natural Connections, and The Camping and Caravanning Club, to inspire a love of nature in young people
The Cheeky Little Campers campaign is a fantastic initiative that aims to encourage primary school children to get outside and active, which is a difficult task in today’s world of technology and sedentary lifestyles.
Scottish manufacturer of camping and caravanning equipment, Vango, have donated tents to ten primary schools across the South West, which have been asked to participate in the scheme, and the participating schools have been set a challenge to create a fun video with their students showing how they pitch the tent. Check out the video from Longford Park Primary School below.
The schools will keep the tents that they have been given, and students will be given the opportunity to ‘sign out’ the class tent so that they may share the camping experience with their families. The Camping and Caravanning Club has also donated a night’s free stay at any of their sites across the UK, so the kids will definitely be able to get a taste for camping.
Vango has worked with young people for many years, and has a long-standing attachment to The Duke of Edinburgh Awards, and more recently The Scouting Associaition. An association with Natural Connections was an ideal match for the camping brand.
The Natural Connections Demonstration project a set up in 2012, and is a three year project which works in more than 200 schools across the South West of England, increasing the number of children experiencing the full range of benefits that come from learning in natural environments. The project is funded by DEFRA, Natural England, and English Heritage, and contracted to Plymouth University.
Natural Connections project manager Ian Blackwell spoke about the learning process with Vango: “One of the things that makes learning outside so special is the children always seem to take so much away from it, and they enjoy the learning experience, even if what they learn varies from child to child. With a bit of creativity and shared resources it’s possible to teach any subject outside.
“I’m really pleased Vango has asked us to work with them on the Cheeky Little Campers campaign. It’s wonderful that these children are going to be trying out some of the best tents at school and then with their families. I always think it’s -make-or-break’ on the first camping trip, and if you’ve got good gear you’re more likely to fall in love with sleeping under the stars,” he continued.
Vango’s brand manager Emma Robinson explained how the idea was born: “The idea for the campaign came from a teacher who wrote to us asking for a Vango tent that she wanted to use to teach her children how to write instructions. After receiving her classes’ handiwork, and seeing how much the children enjoyed making the instructional video, we knew we had to get more children involved; hence Cheeky Little Campers was born!”
CaravanTimes think that this is a fantastic initiative, and hope more schools will soon be benefitting from it and encouraging the next generation of caravanners and campers to take to the great outdoors.
Watch the video from Longford Park Primary School below:
