Calling all children and families! Learn to love rivers this summer by becoming a Junior River Ranger and be entered into a special prize draw by showing us how you have saved water.
Enjoy our Junior River Ranger activities, then complete the form for this amazing summer holiday competition that will get the whole family out in nature.
Our fantastic competition’s deadline is Sunday 9th October.
Children who complete the challenge of becoming Junior River Rangers this summer have the chance to win a special prize by demonstrating their desire to save water.
So go with the flow and see what exciting adventures your local river could lead you and your children on during the summer holidays.
Our Junior River Ranger programme is a fantastic way for families with young children to get to know about our wonderful rivers and to learn to treasure them, in thrilling new ways.
By completing fun activities with family and friends, children will earn a certificate and badge. They will have proved that they understand why rivers are important for both people and wildlife and that they respect the natural environment.
And now the children will have a chance to win a prize through our water saving competition, running until Sunday 9th October.
We have already certified more than 60 Junior River Rangers across the South East. Why not join them?
To become a Junior River Ranger, young people must complete four activities (two green and two blue) along any river and fill in our form to receive your badge and certificate.
Blue Activities: ensure our precious rivers can keep flowing for people and wildlife by becoming more river friendly through saving water.
Green Activities: explore and enjoy being outside by getting up close to nature and wildlife along our rivers.
Please read our river safety guidelines, to keep you and your family safe.
In addition to becoming a Junior River Ranger – available all year round – this summer you also have a chance to win a prize.
The winner will be rewarded with a land and water minibeast hunting kit and a bug hotel. Entrants will have to complete some of our new water saving activities.
These include:
As you complete the water saving activities, you will collect Happy Water Droplets. How many Happy Water Droplets can you complete across a week?
All entries received by the deadline will be entered into a prize draw and one winner will be selected at random.
All entries must be submitted by completing our Junior River Ranger Form.
The children’s people and nature survey for England: summer holidays 2021 revealed that 96% of children spend time outdoors each week.
More than 80% agreed that being in nature made them very happy. Young people’s top motivations for spending time outdoors were friends, family, fresh air, having fun and playing.
The children’s concern for the environment was high, with 81% saying they wanted to do more to look after the environment. However, 46% said they did not think adults were doing enough – an increase compared to the previous year’s survey (39%).
Our Junior River Rangers scheme is therefore a fantastic way for adults to show they care. It gives families and friends a great incentive to get outdoors this summer holiday, by providing lots of fun activities and ideas for children to explore and help protect nature and wildlife.
One participant said: “Thank you for the great activity suggestions. Both Max and Phoebe learned lots more about the river and wildlife by completing the activities.”
Conserving water might seem a topical, summer issue. We have just experienced the driest July in England since 1911. July was also a month when the country recorded its hottest day on record, 40°C.
However, during the time we have been running Junior River Rangers we noticed that more than half of those who complete tasks chose to save water as one of the activities.
This show of commitment has inspired us. Following their lead, we have expanded our activities and made water saving a core activity.
The south east of England is classified as water-stressed. This means that the demand for water is larger than the water available in the landscape. Low flows are a major threat to our rivers.
The main causes are over-consumption in areas which have big, dense populations, plus climate change and water management. These factors are putting massive pressures on our rivers and aquifers.
At present, the average person in England uses 141 litres of water a day. We believe everyone has a responsibility to take care of water.
The South East Rivers Trust is working to protect our waterways and the wildlife that thrives within them in many ways.
Help us – become a Junior River Ranger!
If you have any questions about the competition, or our education programmes, email education@southeastriverstrust.org.