'Wee Green Fingers: Biodiversity Gardening for Pre-School Children' is run by Scottish National Heritage (SNH). The course was piloted in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Perth and will be now be rolled out at other venues across Scotland. It is suitable for everyone who works with pre-school children, including nursery teachers, playgroup leaders and childminders.
Bonnie Maggio, trainer and advisory officer at SNH, said, 'We want to show teachers that it is easy to teach children about wildlife, even in towns.
The course is highly interactive and fun and it explores the theory and practice of gardening for biodiversity with pre-school children.'
The workshop encourages children to use their senses to explore their environment. It shows how to find evidence of insects, animals and plants by identifying signs of eating and different seeds in the garden.
Ms Maggio said, 'In many cases children are losing touch with nature and they grow up having little knowledge or appreciation of it. We hope that by opening their eyes at an early age they will be interested later in their lives too.'
The first workshop took place at SNH's Battleby office in Perth. The training is funded by SNH, the Scottish Executive, the National Trust for Scotland, RSPB, Butterfly Conservation and Scottish Wildlife Trust.
The one-day subsidised workshop costs 15, including lunch. For information about future dates contact Lorna Brown at SNH on 01738 458 559, e-mail lorna.brown@snh.gov.uk,or visit www.snh.org.uk