Little Green Fingers — Erasmus+ Green-Schools partnership

An Taisce’s Green-Schools programme has partnered up with five organisations across Europe to pilot the Little Green Fingers project, an innovative educational program that integrates STEAM, environmental education, and design thinking.

This exciting project will be launched across Ireland, Belgium, Serbia, Cyprus and the Netherlands through Green-Schools in collaboration with Change of Course, KidHub, CYCERE and Stichting Designathon Works. This initiative is part of the Erasmus+ project "Little Green Fingers: Education for a Sustainable Future", aimed at fostering environmental education and sustainable habits among children aged 4 to 8.   

Two outstanding schools that have been working with the Green-Schools programme for over 20 years, St Patricks Junior School, Skerries, Co. Dublin and Gaelscoil Raifteirí, Castlebar, Co. Mayo (pictured in the banner) have been chosen to pilot the programme. These two schools will join the Little Green Fingers team, along with teachers from each partner country, for a two-day training event in Brussels, Belgium. This will be a fantastic opportunity to collaborate and gain insights from different cross-cultural education systems. During the training, teachers will learn how to effectively implement the project in their schools.  

Little Green Fingers aims to empower children to co-create outdoor learning spaces where they can explore, play, and tackle real-world challenges such as nature conservation and biodiversity.  

The program promotes environmental awareness through activities like school gardens and composting. while encouraging hands-on learning in nature. It also helps young children develop essential skills such as critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, and digital literacy. Little Green Fingers is committed to inclusivity, ensuring that children from diverse backgrounds and abilities have access to quality environmental education.   

To kickstart the collaboration, Clare Patten and Robert Nelson of Green-Schools joined the Little Green Fingers team in Amsterdam at a recent launch event. Together, they developed a shared understanding of the project goals, mapped out timelines, and kicked off the collaborative development of the ‘green’ curriculum framework.   

Speaking at the launch, Clare Patten, Green-Schools Biodiversity Theme Co-ordinator, said, ‘This is a wonderful way to connect with passionate partners and to exchange visions for the future of environmental education. We have two fantastic pilot schools in St Patricks Junior School and Gaelscoil Raifteirí and we are very excited to see what comes out of the project this year.’  

Little Green Fingers: littlegreenfingers.eu  

Partner organisations: 

At the heart of Little Green Fingers is a diverse team of dedicated partners from across Europe, each bringing unique expertise to nurture eco-conscious learning. From environmental research to innovative education design, our partners are united in their vision to inspire a new generation of sustainability-minded young people. Meet the organisations driving this project forward.  

• Stichting Designathon Works Leading the way, this Dutch foundation empowers children as changemakers through design thinking, addressing environmental and social challenges to build a sustainable future.  

• KidHub This Serbian educational centre brings expertise in maker education, combining hands-on learning with social and environmental sustainability for young innovators.   

• An Taisce Green-Schools. Green-Schools is an international environmental education programme for primary and secondary schools. It is coordinated internationally by FEE, while in Ireland, Green-Schools is run by our project partners An Taisce   

• Cyprus Centre for Environmental Research & Education. Bring environmental citizenship education to the forefront, this Cypriot organisation is a key player in developing innovative teaching resources for young learners  

• Change Of Course As a forward-thinking Belgian SME, Change of Course focuses on digital education and green learning, ensuring that the project’s resources are scalable and accessible across Europe.