This May half term saw us partner with not one, but two amazing local organisations to put on activities for families and children.

Tuesday 26th May saw Families from our community attend the Chemistry in the Garden’s event at Oxford Botanic Gardens, which was hosted in partnership with the Gardens Libraries and Museums team and the University of Oxford.

Children were able to tour the gardens, learn about chemistry, and engage with our team on waste. Chemistry students from the university were on hand to share experiments with the kids, whilst connecting science to nature. Our team was there to have conversations with the children about waste and how it all connects.

It was particularly interesting to hear children’s views on what they thought were hard-to-recycle items. Things suggested included CDs, Office Furniture, Building Materials, Styrofoam, Oil, labelled cans and tins, Batteries, plastic film on fruit punnets, sofas and toys, and many more items… At the same time, they thought newspapers, glass, metals, and plastics were easy to recycle.

We often ask the adults what they think about waste, so this was a great opportunity to get the children’s views and to gauge their understanding.

Overall, the day was enjoyed by all the families who took part, despite the 30+ degrees heat, and we were pleased to be able to offer free family tickets, so well done to all of those who made the effort to attend and enjoyed the gardens.

Families enjoying the event at Oxford Botanic Gardens

Our Volunteer Neil Cuthbert said, “ There were six stalls at the Oxford Botanic Gardens.

We had one second in. We had 78 people actively engage with us. Largely talking about recycling in various ways. There were several families that had been given tickets by Cherwell Collective. They were very grateful.

Then on Wednesday 27th May we welcomed Kaja from Stem Goes Wild, who works with the team at the University of Oxford Begbroke Science Park, to WISH, who, alongside Marie, one of our regular volunteers, taught the children how to make Rubber band racers.

These were race cars made from cardboard boxes and rubber bands, both items that are often thrown away with household recycling.

Some of the children also decorated them and added their own unique touches.

Example of a rubber band racer. Rubber band racer being tested on the ground at WISH

It was great to see the enjoyment on the children’s faces as they learnt about engineering and how kinetic energy worked, and to see the creativity flowing as they decorated their racers!

Not only did they get to enjoy having fun with science, but the children were also treated to a fruit platter from our Climatarian Kitchen, which was much appreciated in the heat.

Kaja and some of the children showing off their racecars.

Overall, both days were a great success, and we would like to take the opportunity to thank

Oxford University Development, University of Oxford Begbroke Science Park, Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum, University of Oxford and The National Lottery Community Fund, which allowed us to put on these free family activities.

Save the date! We are also super excited to announce that we’re partnering with both organisations again for two great events coming up in July.

Follow our events calendar to see what’s on next. This 4th July is the Begbroke Science Wonder Garden Party, and the 24th July is the Cherwell Collective Family Day hosted at Oxford Botanic Gardens, where you’ll be able to enjoy tours and trails around the garden, handle plants, enjoy craft activities from Cherwell Collective, as well as activities with our partners TVERC and Wild Oxfordshire. All are welcome to come along and live, learn, eat, and grow together.