Kids Planet children and staff pledge a stampede of support to Chester Zoo this summer

Kids Planet, which now includes Kids Allowed, has launched a timely summer fundraising campaign to help support the UK’s number one family attraction, Chester Zoo, due to its significant losses since Covid-19 and its drastic restrictions on visitors for the foreseeable future.

Aptly named, Kids Planet Summer Stampede, this fundraising campaign will enable this nursery group to give financial support by adopting as many animals as it can. To do this, 7,000 children - aged two to five – will be collecting sponsorship as they walk, stomp, hop and leap a collective 1700 miles.

Kids Planet CEO Clare Roberts explains the thinking around this campaign;

“We currently have 52 nurseries based in UK, with many located within easy travelling distance of Chester Zoo. It’s an incredibly popular attraction for us, our staff and many of our families. Its recent plight, due to lockdown and reduced numbers of visitors, struck a chord with our staff and parents and so we came up with this idea. Since launching earlier this month, we reached our first target for £2000 in the first ten days, so we’ve set ourselves an ambitious target of £20,000 and extended our fundraising activities across July and August.

Childcare Director, Lucy Kaczmarska, added:

“As part of our learning through play and child-centred activities, animals feature highly. Our Summer Stampede creates so many learning opportunities to support every age and stage of our children’s development from species, to sounds, to colours, to habitats, to behaviours; the list is endless.

“Also, we wanted to do something that would encourage our children to keep active and enjoy the outdoors. Our nursery practitioners have wonderful imaginations and are already pulling out all the stops to ensure the children have a lot of fun along the way. We are looking forward to seeing a variety of ‘stampedes’ along the way.

Kids Planet will also be sharing a survey with Chester Zoo which will include asking children what their favourite wild animal is and why. Each nursery will conduct its own fun poll and the results will be used during the adoption selection process at the end of the Summer Stampede fundraising campaign at the end of August.

For those families who are not part of Kids Planet, but want to help support Chester Zoo, they can simply get involved by reading the Chester Zoo Summer Stampede blog post on the Kids Planet website where they will find all the details including a downloadable sponsorship form. Older siblings are also encouraged to join in as and help their younger brothers and sisters when it can be fitted around, or form part of, their home-schooling.

As Clare continues,

“Our name, Kids Planet, is a constant reminder to all, that children are the most important considerations when we look at the impacts, good and bad, on our world today. The animal kingdom and their survival, or threatened extinction, can teach all of us a thing or two about sustainability and environmental responsibilities. We also believe children should learn the importance of giving and experience the wonderful feelings that it can instil to do something for the good of others.

“Overall, we want our children to have fun and this campaign has certainly provided that – sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s enjoying themselves more, the children or the staff”.

Chester Zoo currently employs over 500 devoted staff to provide quality care for its 35,000 animals. As a conservation charity, it is 97% funded by its 2 million visitors a year and generous donations. Due to Covid-19, the 12-week lockdown - and now radical restriction on daily visitors - there is a shortfall of £1.6 million a month. 

Head of Conservation Education and Engagement, Charlotte Smith is delighted to receive such love and support from families during this time stating:

"Thank you SO much for supporting us with your Kids Planet Summer Stampede. It really means the world to us that you want to support Chester Zoo at this time so that we can continue our crucial work in preventing extinction of amazing animals and plants through our science, conservation and education work. 

"The love, the passion and the energy shown by so many people all over the UK, has completely humbled us. We’ve been shown overwhelming kindness when times are hard for everyone, not just us, and we’re incredibly grateful to those fundraising on our behalf. Each and every fundraiser is an inspiration and is making a real difference.

“We fully support Kids Planet's aims to inspire children to care for others, including animals and plants that we share our world with and hope the children, staff and parents all enjoy their walks over the next few weeks and months.  We can't wait to see what you get up to!”

To support this campaign you can make a donation or get involved by visiting Kids Planet’s Summer Stampede crowdfunding page or to just watch the fun you can join the Kids Planet team on Facebook and Twitter. To find out more details about the Kids Planet nurseries in your area you can visit the Kids Planet website.

Kids Planet was foundered in 2008 by John Hoban and his daughter, Clare Roberts, after Clare was unable to find the quality of childcare she wanted for her own children and the flexibility around her work.  Clare’s sister (John’s other daughter) Lucy Kaczmarska is a trained early years and primary school teacher and joined the family business as Childcare Director in 2013.

Kids Planet is the number one childcare provider for quality in the UK and, with its current number of nursery settings standing at 52 (including 12 Kids Allowed nurseries which were acquired in January 2020), it is also the third largest group in the UK.

The business currently provides quality childcare for 7,000 children and employs 2,000 childcare staff across the settings and a further 65 at head office in Lymm, Warrington.

Whilst the company is largely based in the North West and the Midlands it has plans to extend its quality offering across the UK and overseas in the near future.