A pioneering project will be unveiled this week to support wellbeing during lockdown by delivering creativity and nature connection to hundreds of vulnerable children in Aberystwyth and the surrounding area.
Nature Arts Drop, which is launched this week, will use key workers to distribute activity packs to 600 children and young people who have been identified as being particularly at risk from poverty and isolation.
Clarissa Richards, Education Specialist at the Cambrian Wildwood nature restoration and educational project, said: “I was fascinated by Arts Drop and we felt it could work really well with the work we do with children."
“Everybody was locked down but Arts Drop was still reaching those kids who were in desperate need of support. Kids who were living in poverty, didn’t have easy access to the internet and were going to be a lot more limited in the activities they could do.”
Arts Drop received glowing feedback from children, families and social workers after it was launched in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, in May. The project delivered bags full of creative materials to more than 3,000 children who enjoyed working with crayons, paper and other materials.
The children completed creative activities on postcards specially designed by artists working under the guidance of Elaine Burke, the arts and health consultant who leads Arts Drop.
Uniquely, Nature Arts Drop will combine the familiar drawing, colouring and sticking materials with natural items from the woods and fields where Cambrian Wildwood already works with local schools. A bespoke set of postcards will set the children 20 simple, fun challenges including making a hedgehog or a nature crown, with all the instructions in Welsh and English.
The packs are designed for three age groups – 0 to 5, 6 to 11 and 12 to 18 – and will be distributed from Monday 9 November by schools, social workers and Barnardo’s Cymru.
Elaine said: “The starting point was how to support wellbeing among the most vulnerable children in such difficult times. Arts Drop was the answer and Nature Arts Drop has been specially adapted to meet the needs of a community which is predominantly rural."
“We know the pressures that people are under, we know that this is a very destabilising time and children are feeling strained and stressed and worried about parents and their own futures. We also know that activity helps to support people, so these activities are designed to help children and young people feel calm, learn new skills, develop their imagination and keep developing their own sense of self."
“The feedback we have had is that this really helps to keep them positively occupied, it brings families together to do activities and it gives children and their families a focus.”
Nature Arts Drop is supported by the Wales Coronavirus Resilience Fund, operating under the Community Foundation Wales, and Moondance Covid-19 Relief Fund. YPO Ltd, the Wakefield-based organisation which supplies products and services across the UK to customers including schools and care homes, has continued its support for the Arts Drop Team. Chris Mould, the Halifax-based author and illustrator, has again given his services free of charge to redesign a special Nature Arts Drop logo which decorates the activity bags.
Clarissa said: “Without their support this project would not have happened so we are extremely grateful."
“They are helping us to improve the mental wellbeing of vulnerable and at-risk children and their families during the pandemic and beyond, connecting them with nature to help with their creative skills, their creative thinking, their problem solving skills, their imagination, their focus and concentration levels."
“Well-paid jobs are hard to find here. Levels of poverty are high and a lot of people who are working do shift work, which is hard when you have a family. Parents don’t always have the time they would like to take with their children outdoors."
“Nature disconnection has been happening for some time. Young people are not so confident about being outdoors in nature."
“This will give them ideas and confidence about how to use natural materials and things that they can do with other children outdoors. It is sending vulnerable children a message that they are important and they haven’t been forgotten.”
To find out more about Arts Drop please visit https://artsdrop.co.uk/
