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Young Buds Award is designed to empower children with essential life skills while fostering a deep connection with nature, improve well-being, and develop meaningful relationships to create a transformative experience that nurtures happy, confident children. Schools sign up and their students choose from a range of age appropriate challenges that the complete at home. These challenges are designed to enhance their confidence by building a solid set of practical life skills, encouraging them to foster relationships, build strong social skills, and develop empathy and kindness towards others as well as opportunities to reconnect with nature and their local area, all aimed to enhance the holistic well-being of each child.
A dedicated group of educators, nature enthusiasts, and engaged parents came together with a shared vision – to enhance the traditional education model and provide children with the essential life skills, nature connection, and personal growth opportunities they need to thrive. As a group we believe the current education system focuses on academics and lacks the opportunity to teach vital skills to equip our children to be prepared for life!
Currently Young Buds awards are available for ages 4-14 year olds. Any school worldwide can sign up to join and give their children the opportunity to engage in age appropriate tasks to enhance their holistic development. Each city has its own bespoke challenges to connect with the local environment and culture.
THERE ARE SO MANY REASONS TO SIGN UP! We all want the next generation to have the best start in life and this Award can help grow them into happy confident children.
Acquiring practical life skills is essential for fostering independence and confidence in young people. Well-being is a critical concern, especially as numerous challenges affect our children today.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted their development, limiting access to enriching activities and social interactions. Many young learners experienced isolation, missing out on vital hands-on experiences. Our group has recognized the urgent need to bridge these gaps and equip the next generation with the tools and resilience needed to thrive in an increasingly complex world.
Reconnecting with nature will assist with stress and increase wellbeing and also gives children the opportunity to enjoy the natural environment. If they enjoy it they will look after it, and our world needs the next generation to do just that!
The award programme is flexible to start at any time. We do recommend that the programme runs over a school academic year, however it can be flexible and we can work with you to make Young Buds successful with your learners.
Each level is designed to take approximately one academic year to complete. Children need to build their skills at home and submit 8 challenges by uploading videos, documents or photos to their online portal. It is not a race to finish each level, rather an opportunity to practice a new skill until you are confident you are able to complete the challenge independently.
The challenges vary, depending on the level. Each level age appropriate opportunities and learning experiences to enhance the children’s skills in 3 important areas:
Developing life skills to ensure children build confidence and independence with the ability to look after themselves is key to the Young Buds Award. Challenges such as cooking, domestic chores, first aid, happiness, and safety awareness are available to prepare children for their future.
Nature connection experiences are also at the heart of the Award. Spending time in nature is essential for a child’s well-being and development. Guided by our passionate nature enthusiasts, children engage in outdoor adventures, learn about the environment, and develop a profound connection with the natural world.
Nurturing well-being of children is also an integral part of the Award. Each level incorporates challenges that develop friendships, empathy towards others, relaxation techniques, and social-emotional learning to help children build resilience, self-awareness, and positive relationships with themselves and others.
Each Level of the Award has 10 challenges to choose from. Children complete 8 of these challenges at home and submit evidence to complete the award.
There is no cost to a school to join. Parents pay a minimal fee to join which gives their child access to the age appropriate challenges and on completion, a certificate and a badge to celebrate their success.
After you have submitted 8 of the challenges, and they have been approved, you will receive your certificate and medal to celebrate your success.
You will receive an email with your login details, please check your spam folder if you can’t find it. If you are still having any difficulties using the website please contact admin@youngbudsaward.com, providing your name, your child’s name as well as school, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
We are excited to have you start your Young Buds journey! Login to the website, click “My Challenges” and see which challenge you would like to start with. You need to complete 8 of the 10 challenges to complete the award.
You need to provide evidence of your new skills! To do this upload a maximum of 6 photos, or 1 short video but ensure the max file size is no bigger than 100MB in total. If you would like to show us more you can! Simply send us links to a storage space such as google or dropbox. Here are some instructions of how to set these up.
The system can accept up to 100MB or a max of 6 files to show off your news skills you have learned for each challenge. Check you are not trying to upload more than 6 files, or more than 100MB. If you have more to show us we would love to see, please check out the instructions of how to share flives via google drive or drop box.
When you complete a challenge an email is sent to your “approve” to review and approve. You can check who your “approver” is by clicking on your profile. Please politely remind them to review and give you feedback. If they have not received a notification please ask them to contact us at admin@youngbudsaward.com.
If your challenge has not been approved you will need to resubmit your photos and reflections about the challenge. You have one more try to submit as much information to show your approver you know how to do the task independently. Face to face communication is always good, so try to politely ask your approver why it was not and what you need to do to have your challenge approved. You can do it!
No, you can be working on multiple challenges at the same time. Some challenges have to be done over a period of time so have a look through and choose which challenges you would like to work on and work out when you will be able to do them.
We are always open to suggestions and ideas to improve the Award. Please send any ideas to admin@youngbudsaward.com Thank you for your feedback!
