Kids in Action 2024

Discover this years theme and register for the 2024 Kids in Action program.

Kids in Action 2024

Designed primarily for students from Years 5-8, council’s award-winning Kids in Action program encourages students to take responsibility for their learning through the planning and delivery of environmental projects. 

Each year the program focuses learning experiences and projects through an annual theme. 

Kids in Action 2024

Country is alive and speaks to us every day. Can you hear its whispers and roars? Are you actively listening to the sounds and voices of the land and waters? What are they saying?

Around 370,000 people live on Country here on the Sunshine Coast, on the traditional lands of the Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi and Jinibara people. Every year millions more come for the day or stay for longer. Do they listen? Can they hear? How does this impact on their choices to benefit Country? Can we help them connect and care?

Kids in Action is undertaking an exciting and collaborative adventure in 2024 to explore our personal and collective relationship to Country. Let’s come together to make a promise, a heartfelt commitment to care for this precious environment, to connect on a deeper level and make decisions that benefit both the land and water and all its inhabitants. Then let’s share this promise with others, inviting them to reflect and connect and do the same!

The 2024 theme HEAR on Country – Are you listening? encourages schools and their student delegates to be curious in exploring their own personal relationship and responsibility to Country and each other, to create a promise of connection and care. How do you HEAR? Why is it important to listen to Country? What is a promise? What might it look like? What’s your promise?

Schools will be invited, through their project journeys, to co-create a short film. One that will demonstrate a collective consciousness and promise to Country and empower the broader community to do the same. A call to connection and a call to action – to HEAR Country, to change behaviour, to protect, preserve and restore Country!

You might like to do this by:  

  • Delving into diverse practices and processes for connecting with nature, whether it's through sensory experiences, mindfulness activities, or exploring local flora and fauna.
  • Connecting with Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi and Jinibara traditional custodians through conversation and experiences to learn about local languages, traditions, and stories and deepen your understanding and relationship with the land, waters, sky and stars.
  • Creating your own HEAR on Country promise video, interactive display, or workshop, showcasing your journey and commitment to deepening your connection with Country. 
  • Developing a social marketing and/or behaviour change campaign, encouraging peers and the wider community to make their own HEAR on Country promises.
  • Utilising digital or printed media storytelling approaches to script and storyboard your personal experience and learnings about the land, e.g., short film, animation, children’s book, etc.
  • Listening and recording Country to create a soundscape or podcast and exploring the use of technology to enhance our perception and connection with the landscape.
  • Engaging in performance arts by sharing stories through movement, music, poetry, or narrative, fostering a deeper understanding of your connection to Country.
  • Designing and creating visual art pieces and/or exhibition that captures the essence of HEAR on Country using various mediums to express this connection.
  • Investigating and working with technology and techniques for film making, e.g., capturing stills and aerials, sound and lighting, editing, etc. What makes a good film.
  • Collaborating with mentors in your school or local community to develop and implement action projects that actively contribute to the well-being of the environment.

This year’s theme is open to exploration in many ways. To get you started, download a copy of the HEAR on Country mind map (available January 2024). 

Join us for Kids in Action in 2024, as we discover the secrets, stories, and melodies that Country has to share. Immerse yourself in a year of wonder, exploration, making promises, and being HEAR for Country. Together, let’s make a promise to be the stewards that Country needs us to be!

Key 2024 Events

Day 1 – Wednesday 8 May 2024: Kids in Action Environmental Projects Day – The Environmental Projects Day (EPD) engages students in environmental, cultural, scientific, art and citizenship education and experience. It encourages students to enquire, explore and be curious to further develop their confidence and capacity to be able to combat challenges and actively protect their environment. The day also provides an opportunity for students to become acquainted with community mentors, to generate ideas and stimulate interest in the Kids in Action theme for the year.

Day 2 – Wednesday 4 September 2024: Kids in Action Kids Teaching Kids Conference – The Kids Teaching Kids Conference encourages students to learn from each other, through workshops, displays and performances. The conference encourages students to take responsibility for their learning through the planning and delivery of environmental projects.