Wirral Unplugged CIC has been nominated for a national Fantastic for Families award. "It's amazing to be recognised on a national level, especially when the Royal Shakespeare Company is also on the shortlist,” CEO Dr Diana Powell tells us.
The Arts Council England-supported awards have placed Wirral Unplugged in the Best Family Arts Activity category for their three Positive Power: Environmental Chemistry events, held at Birkenhead’s Bloom Building in February.
"We engaged families with environmental chemistry in a unique way. Through crafts, games and physical activities, we taught them about coral bleaching, oil spill clean-up and more,” Diana says about the event, where families came together to learn more about the harm some chemicals and human processes have on the environment, and how they can be changed for the better.
“Our engaging activities sparked confidence in both parents and kids with 96%, feeling confident to discuss environmental chemistry after the event. These numbers matter,” Diana adds, highlighting that, alongside the Wirral Unplugged team, the Positive Power events were aided by volunteer chemists, artists and STEM educators, helping to build families’ knowledge of the subject.
Volunteers from the University of Liverpool, John Moores University and the Environmental Agency also lent a hand, with Diana explaining: “Statistically 58% of women and 45% of men don't feel confident discussing chemistry. We made learning fun and inclusive, reaching out to SEND and low-income families, raising awareness about pollution and leaving a lasting impression on all ages."
Formed in 2019 Wirral Unplugged, Diana and their volunteers have all been doing great work across the Left Bank and wider Liverpool City Region, helping children and families do more together away from phones, computers, tablets and other screens in entertaining ways.
Wirral Unplugged host events and creates fun and imaginative boxes around educational topics to help children and families learn more about STEM, world culture, sustainability and the environment together – we had fun exploring the Dinos Roar Box and its included bone xylophone at the first Wirral MakeFest Diana helped to co-ordinate in July.
150 of their Environmental Chemistry box sets were distributed at the Positive Power events which were filled with enjoyable educational and physical activities, all designed to highlight different aspects of environmental chemists' jobs.
Community groups including The Lighthouse Centre, Crea8ing Community, North Birkenhead Development Trust and Oomoo Centre all received boxes after the events, too, to help reach out to families who couldn’t attend February’s events and reach more people within the community.
“We hope to build on this opportunity to bring our boxes to a wider UK audience and to keep creating exciting events for our community," Diana adds. That Positive Power has been recognised by Fantastic for Families shows Wirral Unplugged is doing something right and helping change lives for the better, one box at a time.
Learn more about Wirral Unplugged’s work and events on their website
See the Environmental Chemistry box and others created by Wirral Unplugged here
Image credit - Gemma Donnelly
