91Èȱ¬

91Èȱ¬ Learning in partnership with the popular CBeebies' Green Balloon Club is calling on youngsters this summer to go outside and do one thing for nature during their school holidays.

In a week of themed events and planned activities, from 25 July to 2 August, young children, and their parents and carers, will be given inspiration through story-telling to do something for nature by baking for birds, and creating a log pile, or creating a bug hotel and planting seeds.

The CBeebies weekly wildlife show, Green Balloon Club, takes children on a nature adventure and for the past 12 months has been introducing three to six year olds, and their families, to a range of environmental, conservation and wildlife-related issues.

Michael Carrington, Controller, CBeebies, says: "CBeebies has lots of enthusiastic viewers and we want to encourage them to take that next step.

"They have learnt about nature with the Green Balloon Club presenters – and now it's their turn to get involved.

"We hope these events will not only keep children entertained during the holiday but will also inspire a new audience and a new generation of nature lovers."

The Green Balloon Club is presented by Lily-Rose who loves flowers; Ant who looks at insects; Cat who focuses on animals and Jay who is interested in birds.

They are accompanied on their adventures by balloonist Sky who watches over them and joins in their adventures.

Each week, the Green Balloon Club meets in their clubhouse, made from recycled materials, the cycle-powered balloon inflates and they fly off to find other children who are club members and are waiting to tell everyone what is happening in their patch.

They also receive regular special reports from Jelly who is out and about meeting children who are involved with nature, and the Ground Crew, assisted by wildlife expert, Nature Chris (when he's not flying the balloon), who are involved in wildlife missions.

And, set to inspire youngsters further, 91Èȱ¬ Springwatch presenter Chris Packham will be reading the Bedtime Story each night for a week. Nature Tales will be on CBeebies from Monday 20 to Friday 24 July at 6.50pm.

A Toad Abode, A Seagull Surprise, Hibernating Hoglets, Lazarus The Ladybird and Bernie The Busy Bee will all feature members of The Green Balloon Club.

Nature Tales will also be available on CBeebies iPlayer for seven days after transmission.

Chris Packham says: "You're never too young to be a wild child! My love of nature began at the age of four with a collection of beetles in a matchbox!"

To find out what is happening in your area during Green Balloon Club Week go to bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces where you will find details of loads of free activity sheets as well as Green Star certificates which will be available to download in the lead up to the week of events.

All the Nature Tales stories in the series can be collected from Monday 20 July by downloading them as audio, read by 91Èȱ¬ newsreader Huw Edwards, or as illustrated text from the website.

Notes to Editors

About 91Èȱ¬ Learning

• The 91Èȱ¬ is committed to education and personal development. 91Èȱ¬ Breathing Places is one of the many unique and varied offerings from 91Èȱ¬ Learning. For more information on all the learning programmes offered for adults, teachers, parents and students, visit bbc.co.uk/learning.
• 91Èȱ¬ Learning also delivers campaigns that aim to inspire and empower individuals to take action – action that changes their lives, benefits communities and helps to transform society.

About 91Èȱ¬ Breathing Places

• 91Èȱ¬ Breathing Places is a five-year campaign to encourage all of us to get outside and make space for nature. Developed in partnership with a huge range of wildlife and conservation organisations, the campaign encourages new audiences to get involved in doing one thing for nature, while providing opportunities for Breathing Places to be created across the UK. Already millions of people have been inspired to do one thing for nature.
• £9.5million from the Big Lottery Fund has been invested in creating new breathing places. More than 10,000 schools have signed up to BP School, and nearly 10,000 breathing places are registered on the Event Finder.
• bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces provides details on how to do one thing for nature where you live, from putting up a bird feeder to creating a breathing place. The public can also search around 10,000 breathing places on the Breathing Places Event Finder to locate nature-friendly places and events near them. A breathing place is great for both wildlife and people. It has an active community of people creating, enjoying and maintaining it.
• Events taking place during Green Balloon Club Week are staffed by volunteers and are not 91Èȱ¬-run events. All events are organised by a range of 91Èȱ¬ Breathing Places partners. These may be libraries, wildlife trusts, local authorities and children's centres.

About CBeebies

• CBeebies remains the most watched and loved channel for the under-sixes, with almost half of the target audience tuning in each week (parents and carers with children aged up to three and four to six year olds in digital homes) it reaches well over double (almost three times) the audience of its pre-school competitors.
• CBeebies website – bbc.co.uk/cbeebies – regularly reaches almost a million weekly users and reached more than one million unique users in the UK during the first week of February 2009, a record for the site.
• To access the Green Balloon Club online go to bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/ecobeebies.
• A series of Green Balloon Club holiday specials are due to be broadcast for five weeks from Friday 31 July on 91Èȱ¬ Two at 7.30am.

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