In July 2005, the Community Heritage Initiative was asked to run sessions at a holiday play scheme at Ivanhoe Community College, Ashby de la Zouch.  The scheme offered a wide range of activities, from archery to face painting, for six to twelve year olds from the local area.

Over four days, CHI ran Nature Detective Workshops on magical mammals, nature diaries, glorious grasslands and bug hunting.  110 nature detectives were recruited to start a nature diary and write about a special natural object, make a quadrat and see what lives in the grass, hunt for minibeasts and make a minibeast mansion.  

Many junior detectives came back time and time again, and there were several requests for advice on where to find out more about wildlife.

Favourite activities included; making leaf prints, going bug hunting and making a mini beast mansion. Take home activities were also available and some of the young people carried on with their nature diaires at home.

The sessions were a combination of indoor and outdoor activities giving young people the opportunity to record visually what they had discovered.

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The activities used in the session can be downloaded from the Wild About Action Pack