There are some fantastic free resources for educating children of all ages at home. Rather than reinvent the wheel, this section will direct you to a number of pages from organisations like ours. If you find any additional resources please let us know and we will add to the links.
Learning
Wessex Rivers Trust run free river bank and in-school education session for learners aged 7 to 11. Pupils learn about the variety of wildlife that our Island rivers sustain as well as how we can all do things to conserve water and improve the quality of our watercourses.
For more information and to book a session on a river near your school, contact Chloë Searl on chloe.searl@wessexrt.org.uk .
The Rivers Trust Schools Hub has a large amount of resources for students and teachers. Also family learning and play activities.
Project Kingfisher from the South East Rivers Trust offers a programme of curriculum-based activities for children to complete at home.
Leap into Learning with a series of science related videos and downloadable activity sheets from the Salmon Lady at Wye and Usk Foundation.
Join River School Online from the West Cumbria Rivers Trust for a series of online lessons.
Ribble Together have put together a 16 week learning programme plus a summer activity sheet.
For older students the Non Native Species Secretariat has developed a range of freely available e-learning modules to provide an introduction to non-native species, and how to identify them. AS well as Great Britain it includes Oversees Territories and modules on biosecurity.
Young children can help Tilly the Trout migrate her way up the Bristol Avon river towards her spawning ground.
The Adventurous Salmon is a flip catalogue enabling young children to follow the epic 3,000 km journey undertaken by an intrepid wild Atlantic salmon; from Cumbria’s tiny becks, down Eden’s rivers and out to sea … and then back again to the beck where it was born.
Our Riverbank is an inspiring online book about native wildlife, but also the dangers of invasive species put together by the Medway Valley Country Partnership.
Alien Detectives is a brilliant resource from the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative is packed full of learning linked with fun, educational activities to help young (and not so young!) people learn about invasive non-native species.
Wildscreen have developed a ‘Design an Alien’ hour session for 7 to 11 year olds. The pack includes teaching notes and powerpoint.
Wildscreen have developed a persuasive writing session for 11 to 14 year olds based on the issues surrounding invasive species.
Not exactly rivers – but this is a great guide to getting involved in coastal archaeology.
Activities and Play
Make and race origami frogs curtesy of the Canal and River Trust.
Hook a Duck! Stacks of water-related games from the Canals and River Trust for young children to play at home.
The Wildlife Trusts have a series of webcams. When live, you can watch wildlife in action, but they also have a ‘best of’ series of video footage.
Why not go on a butterfly hunt with these useful tips from the Wildife Trusts?
Click here to download an Invasive Species wordsearch provided by the Non Native Species Secretariat.
Download the components for an Alien Invasive Species Detective Game.