Getting Young People Involved in Climate Action
Here’s an experience shared by the amazing team from Friends of the Haughs, who have been working closely with their local school to involve students in environmental activities.
Do you think their ideas could be an inspiration to involve the young people in our lives?
Let’s find out!
Week 1
A short while ago, we visited Men’s Shed Turriff and asked them to build two large planters to go beside Bob’s Bothy. They had kindly offered to come and fit them when we are ready, so we planned for them to be installed towards the end of April.
The guys have also offered to paint the sides of the Bothy to match the new planters.
And as you can see they are all finished now. Look how wonderful they are!
Next, it was time to welcome some lovely pupils from Turriff Primary. They will be visiting once a week for five weeks, and we’re hoping they truly enjoy learning about composting.
The pupils will be joining in on various activities, such as filling the planters and choosing flowers sourced from Parkhill at Whitelodge Garden Centre. We love keeping things local, especially with the added touch that Bob’s family owned Whitelodge for many years; it feels like a very fitting tribute in Bob’s memory. Once that’s complete, the pupils will get to design how to display their flowers in the planters.
Week 2
Six pupils from Turriff Primary were welcomed, along with Christine, their Nature Nurture practitioner and helper Steve. We taught them about how to compost, collected leaves and twigs to compost in the bottom of the planters, and then filled them both up with compost.
We had a lovely discussion about the types of flowers and plants they would like to plant in the planters. They are coming back next week to plant those they suggested, which we hope to source from Parkhill at Whitelodge Garden Centre. They then all watched the ducks in the boating pond before heading back to school.
During the event, I heard one of the children say “This is great fun!” and that made all of us at Friends of the Haughs smile.
Another special moment was when Bob’s (of Bob’s Bothy fame) widow Carlyn came down and watched the children working hard to make the bothy area pretty.
Almost forgot, we also had a great time identifying some mini beasties, and hearing different names for them from the areas everyone came from.
Week 3
This week, the pupils topped the planters, which were built for us by Men’s Shed Turriff, with wood chips. They then planted lots of flowering narcissus in the grassed area, as well as a lovely flowering poppy beside our living willow structure. They finally learned how to deadhead and why we do it, then put their newly learned skills to work deadheading Bob’s pansy pots. All were extremely enthusiastic and we loved having them along.
Week 4
Another lovely afternoon yesterday down at the Haughs with children from Turriff Primary.
The plan today was to make some seed bombs that once dried, the children can go off and plant at home, at school or around the area where they feel might need some wild flower “explosions”.
We started by sorting the seeds from One Seed Forward and Parkhill at Whitelodge Garden Centre and looking up the seeds for the wild flowers that we did not recognise (so we knew what to expect to see as the seeds grow).
The children then read through the seed bomb recipe and got stuck in! They all took turns to measure and add the ingredients, and then mixed them all together.
With some very dubby hands, we then all made lots of little “biodiversity balls” and talked about the importance of having lots of different plants and flowers so that we can have lots of bees and other pollinating insects to help feed the birds and small mammals in our eco system as well as the importance these pollinators have in our food system
We are looking forward to share the children’s seed bomb creations in their last week with Friends of the Haughs next week.
Week 5
We can’t believe it has been 5 weeks already!
We welcomed back pupils in the afternoon for their last week. Under the fire breathing Christine Steiner’s guidance, they learned how to make a fire, and then roasted marshmallows! Their s’mores looked SO tasty. We have thoroughly enjoyed having them all along to help us, and we presented them all with a wee medal as a token of our thanks. We hope they enjoy showing off the flower beds they have planted to everyone when they visit.
Thank you all from Morag, Michael, Sarah and Brian at Friends of the Haughs.
So, how do you start including young people in projects?
Morag from Friends of the Haughs explained:
“I’ve been involving the school kids in many of my ‘projects’ for a good few years now. I think how I started was asking my daughter’s teacher at the time if the class would like to help out, and then the teachers came to me wanting to do the same! I now have direct contact with the Head Teacher from the Primary school, and we arrange things for her classes and groups. For the Academy, I go through the Outdoor Learning teacher and we come up with things together. “
“If kids take an active part in planting in our green spaces, they take a pride in those areas. They’ll show their work to their families, which then introduces it to others – this gives us a new group of volunteers who come along to community planting events. They also believe (and hope) that if kids help plant an area, they are less likely to partake in antisocial behaviour in these areas.
However, the main reason is because planting is fully inclusive. So many activities (sports, etc.) need you to be good to be able to partake. To me, coming out in the fresh air, helping to make our areas nicer, is just as important. So much so, I managed to get our local sports hub to change its name from Turriff Community Sport Hub to Turriff Community Sport & Wellbeing Hub. Gardening keeps you active and pretty much everyone can do it. “
Why this matters
Jamie from NESCAN Hub noted that as an ex-teacher, I know schools are an ideal place to start when involving young people. Many don’t often get the chance to take part in meaningful, hands-on work that improves their own community. But when they do, the impact is lasting. The joy of getting their hands dirty, watching something grow, and knowing they made it happen—it’s powerful. These are the moments that spark a lifelong connection to nature and a sense of responsibility for the planet.
We live in a time when space, time, and opportunity to grow and nurture are in short supply. That’s why these small, green moments matter so much.
We want your ideas!
Do you have a story about working with young people? Even better—have you involved them in planning or managing a project? Share it with us, and help us build a resource that others can learn from. Whilst this example was growing, there are many other areas of climate action that young people are involved in
Here are some ways you can take the next step:
- Does your local school have a gardening or science club? Could you volunteer an hour to share your passion?
- Reach out to a teacher or head teacher to explore how you can help.
- Join a local community garden and suggest a child-friendly activity.
Useful links for inspiration:
- The Growing Benefits of School Gardening (Sustain)
- RHS School Gardening Resources
- Get Involved with Community Growing (CFINE)
Let’s grow the next generation of climate champions—one seed, one story, one small step at a time.
Read more stories on young climate involved in climate activities