Popular search terms:

Home / Schools / Explore: Urban Nature

Explore: Urban Nature

We're challenging students across the UK to help everyone better understand the nature around us, in our towns and cities.

Back to top

In partnership with

Garfield Weston logo

Join the challenge

The Explore: Urban Nature programme is coming to a museum near you and there are lots of ways students aged 9-14 can be part of the urban nature movement. It’s just beginning, it’s free to take part and your students can help lead the way. 

We need them 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.

Sign up to the mailing list

Contact us

If you have any questions about the programme, you can email us at: ExploreUrbanNature@nhm.ac.uk

National partners

A museum near you will be leading activities in their local schools and at their sites. Find your closest museum below:

    • 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

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.

Map of UK showing project partner locations

Ways to take part

Discover our learning resources

Use our learning resources with your students to explore the nature on your doorstep and discover the challenges it faces.

View resources

Get local museum support

Your local museum will be running workshops and celebration days, where students can investigate their urban nature ideas in more depth and discuss them with experts.

To be connected to your nearest museum email: ExploreUrbanNature@nhm.ac.uk

The Museum is running a London workshop.

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.

FInd out more

Join in with citizen science

Gather real data to help understand the nature around us. Take part in our seasonal nature challenges, or use our calendar to find suitable projects for your class.

Empower your students

Challenge your students to investigate their questions by completing a Bronze CREST Award (PDF 830KB), or work as a team towards becoming an Eco-School.

Share your questions with scientists

Share your students’ scientific questions with experts at the Natural History Museum who are crowdsourcing ideas for their next big urban nature research project.

Ask your questions

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 conect 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. 

Programme timeline

Each year in 2022, 2023 and 2024

  • January - February: Teacher training 
    Take part in our Explore: Urban Nature teacher training programme to gain practical skills for outdoor STEM investigations into urban nature and the latest science from our researchers. 
  • March - July: Take part in a museum workshop near you. 
    Bring your students to hands-on outdoor workshops where they will work scientifically to investigate challenges facing urban nature. 
  • July: Join a museum celebration day.
    Students can join our end of year celebrations to share their investigations and meet the experts.

Spring 2023 and 2024

  • Stay tuned for our BIG urban nature research projects based on student questions, where we need you and your students to become citizen scientists.

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:

Explore urban nature funders logos