Prince Charles has launched a series of half-term challenges to encourage children to be at one with nature.
Prince Charles
The 72-year-old heir to the throne and environmentalist appeared in a video message on Clarence House's official Instagram page this evening (13.02.21) to announce his new initiative, which includes six different challenges such as bird spotting and planting seeds.
The British royal - who is married to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall - admitted he is as "frustrated" as everyone else about not being able to go outside as much amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the clip, Charles - who previously battled coronavirus and recently received his vaccine along with his wife - continued: "So, here's a challenge for you. While you have a little time off from all your online learning, can you encourage your family to go out with you to take a really close look at the wonderful things nature is now doing, and how the same patterns occur over and over again?
"See for instance, how many birds you can spot; plant the seeds left from cooking vegetables and see how long it takes them to sprout; decorate pebbles, stones or shells.
"But whatever you do, look closely.
"Notice the way nature organises everything so precisely, using the sorts of shapes I'm sure you have drawn in school with a pair of compasses - circles, spirals, five-pointed stars.
"I promise you, once you start looking at nature and searching for these common shapes, you will see them everywhere.
"And that's because they are so useful to nature.
"The more you look at every leaf or seed or feather, you see that they have so much in common; they all work in the same way to keep life going.
"And don't forget that we have those patterns in us too, which is why it's so important to spend this time looking at how nature works - it teaches us how we work too."
Charles has joined forces with his patronages - Garden Organic, Elephant Family, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Wildlife Trusts and the Prince's Foundation - to curate the activities for youngsters in the UK.
The challenges will be set out on the Clarence House Instagram page from next week.
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