We're challenging students across the UK to help everyone better understand the nature around us, in our towns and cities.
In partnership with
Join the challenge
The Explore: Urban Nature programme is happening at a museum near you and there are lots of free opportunities for your students to participate.
Nature in the UK is under threat, and we all have a part to play in the solution. We need your students to track and monitor the nature closest to home, become the local experts, help us observe and collect new data, and take action through science to make a real difference.
Sign up to our mailing list to hear more about Explore: Urban Nature.
Contact us
If you have any questions about the programme, you can email us at: ExploreUrbanNature@nhm.ac.uk
Ways to take part
Build your skills with teacher training
Learn about the latest urban nature scientific research developments, practice field skills, and design an action plan to confidently run an outdoor investigation with your students on or near your school site.
Discover our learning resources
Use our curriculum linked learning resources with your students to explore the nature on your doorstep and discover the challenges it faces.
Get local museum support
Your local museum will be running workshops and other events, where students can build working scientifically skills and do their own nature investigations.
To be connected to your nearest museum, email: ExploreUrbanNature@nhm.ac.uk
The Museum is running a London workshop.
Join in with community science projects
Gather real data to help understand the nature around us. Join our Nature Overheard project and investigate how road noise affects insects.
Empower your students
Challenge your students to investigate their questions by completing a CREST Award (PDF 830KB).
National Partners
A museum near you will be leading activities in their local schools and at their sites. Find your closest museum below:
- Natural History Museum, London
- RSPB: Giving Nature a Home in Glasgow in partnership with Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
- Great North Museum, Newcastle
- Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales
- Birmingham Museums Trust
- Leeds Museums and Galleries
7. Wollaton Hall (Nottingham City Museums and Galleries)
8. Natural History Museum, Tring, Hertfordshire
9. National Museum Northern Ireland
10. Dorset Museum
11. Stoke-on-Trent Museums
12. Touchstones Rochdale
13. The Horniman Museum and Gardens
To be connected to your nearest museum email: ExploreUrbanNature@nhm.ac.uk
Not close to a museum? Don’t worry! There are many ways for your students to take part remotely, from CREST awards to an EcoSchools challenge and more.
Why urban nature matters
Over 83% of the UK population live in urban areas. Towns and cities are where most people experience nature - in parks, gardens and patches of wasteland, rather than in the countryside or national parks.
These urban green spaces are important: strongholds for a wide range of species, and places for people to connect with nature, improving our mental and physical health.
But these spaces can be neglected and may come under extra pressure as the urban population grows.
We want to help thousands of young people dig into what urban nature is, what it does, how it's changing, and what we can all do to support it.
Funding
We thank all funders to the Urban Nature Project campaign so far, including those who wish to remain anonymous, for their generous support. We recognise the following funders for their exceptional contributions to the campaign:
Find out about other strands of the Urban Nature Project
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Urban Nature Project
We're working in partnership across the UK to help communities connect with nature in their towns and cities and to develop new scientific tools to monitor wildlife.
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Youth Worker Toolkit
This free downloadable toolkit lists activities and ideas that you can use with young people to explore nature in cities.
