Cheeky Little Campers inspire next generation
Year four children at Shakespeare Primary School in Plymouth, met Alison Seabeck MP to explain how they made their fun video on how to pitch a Vango tent
MPs from the South West are meeting pupils in primary schools who have taken part in the ‘Cheeky Little Campers’ campaign to find out what they’ve learnt whilst making pitching videos and trying camping in their new Vango tent.
At the start of the summer, leading camping and outdoor brand Vango joined forces with Britain’s biggest outdoor learning programme, Natural Connections, based at Plymouth University and The Camping and Caravanning Club to launch a campaign to create fun and informative tent pitching videos, encouraging children to learn how to pitch a tent and try camping.
Vango gifted a family sized tent to 10 Key Stage 2 classes that are part of Natural Connection’s network of schools interested in promoting the outdoors as a learning environment. As well as creating a tent pitching video children can now ‘check out’ the class tent to try camping with their family in their own time. The Camping & Caravanning Club included vouchers for a free night’s stay in their UK sites as part of the campaign so families can ‘have a go’ with no cost attached.
Alison Seabeck MP met pupils and teachers at Shakespeare School in Plymouth to watch the children’s creative tent pitching video, which now feature on Vango’s website, and asked the children what they thought of camping and learning outdoors.
Alison Seabeck MP said: “It was a real pleasure to hear about their camping exploits under the stars, and to sense the real excitement. Their understanding of the environment - birds and nature around them was really very good.”
Deputy headteacher Ms Radford said: “This is an excellent opportunity to develop the children’s resilience and independence skills in the outdoor learning environment, they have enjoyed the challenge of working together to create a space which they can use for overnight camping activities.”
One of the Year 4 pupils said: “It’s great – all of us will get the chance to sleep outdoors – we have had lots of fun.”
Adrian Saunders MP from the Torbay constituency and Dr Liam Fox MP based in Somerset will also be meeting participating schools.
Emma Robinson, Brand manager at Vango, said: “It’s really exciting for us to know we’re helping the next generation of campers take an interest in the outdoors. This is becoming more important as the amount of indoor activities available now attract a lot of children’s time.
“We do a lot of work with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards and The Scout Association but decided we also need to help encourage children who come from a social background where friends and family could be unaware of the opportunities available in the outdoors. We are currently discussing how we can develop the campaign in 2015 so we continue to support young people getting out and about.”
Paul Jones, Marketing and Communications Director at The Camping and Caravanning Club, said: “The Club is delighted that the campaign has been so well received. Family campers are a key part of our membership and it’s important for us, and the outdoor industry as a whole, to continue to educate young people on the exciting choices they have to best experience the great outdoors.
“We hope that many families get involved in this project take advantage of our free night vouchers and come and stay with the Club to put their tent pitching skills into practise.”
The ‘Cheeky Little Campers’ campaign involves ten primary schools across the South West. Natural Connections, The Camping and Caravanning Club, and Vango want to encourage more youngsters to get outside and explore nature’s classroom.
