The Outdoors Project is an Aylesbury and Thame based kids club. Run locally by Heloise Stankard, The Outdoors Project takes a fresh approach to childcare, with a focus on getting kids active, outside, off their screens, and in touch with nature. All while having lots and lots of fun! They run a mix of: holiday clubs, birthday parties, after school clubs and school workshops. They are also launching their saplings parent and toddler group in the near future.
Heloise’s Sustainability Background
Heloise’s interest in the environment comes from her student days where she studied zoology, which included a research project on Ecology. This spurred her on to do a mix of environmental roles in Groundwork UK and Earthwatch Europe; and a mix of education roles teaching abroad and teaching science in the UK. Whilst working as both a teacher and a youth worker, Heloise saw how little time kids were spending outdoors or learning practical things, all the while their mental health was in rapid decline and they had near zero connection to nature.
This then led to her setting up The Outdoors Project in Aylesbury and Thame, a role that combines her interest in sustainability with her passion for getting kids outdoors and doing practical activities that they wouldn’t normally do. The Outdoors Project takes a very holistic approach and looks to teach children about how to learn from the natural world, from how trees keep the planet cooler, to how we can keep going even when the weather gives us extra challenges.
What makes The Outdoors Project Sustainable?
Firstly, The Outdoors Project has a low carbon footprint due its clubs and events being based outdoors. Beyond this, Heloise has implemented various additional sustainability initiatives to make sure that it’s environmentally friendly.
Sustainability Initiatives
- The Van used is electric, it’s topped up using renewable energy. Heloise uses an app to calculate the times of day when the carbon load is lowest on the grid, to ensure that the energy she uses is renewable and also that there is more green energy left on the grid for others to use too. This means that she often charges the van’s battery at night, or during a windy day when there is a swell of energy from wind farms.
- Heloise’s Home Office is running using solar energy
- Sticks are the material that are most used for the kids clubs, Heloise coppices these locally from Willow trees. As willow grows really quickly, it’s a sustainable resource.
- Heloise tries to avoid using plastic in crafts and looks for biodegradable materials when possible, e.g. masking tape instead of traditional tape and natural or recycled wool instead of acrylic wool
Future Sustainability Initiatives
- Heloise is looking into decarbonising the online booking system
Some parts of the business are difficult to do sustainably e.g. the adults costumes used are synthetic as there are no natural options. As these are inflatable, Heloise has however changed their fan so that they are powered by power bank that can be filled with solar energy. The clay used also has some synthetic fibres as the completely natural clay isn’t fit for purpose. On the whole though, compared to a school, or a childcare facility, The Outdoor Project consumes far less plastic, single use items and non-biodegradable glitter.
Stay in Touch
This Autumn Half-Term The Outdoors Project has got a great line-up of clubs to keep your kids busy and happy over the break period including themed days based on Harry Potter, Minecraft, Pokémon, Zelda and much more. You can read more and here:
