The lesson, which will be available from 09:00 on the BBC Teach website and broadcast at 11:00 on CBBC and BBC iPlayer, will see hosts Naomi Wilkinson and Lizzie Daly venture into the rainforest to follow the journey of the water cycle.
During the lesson, children will be taken on a trip into the Biome to learn about the constant movement of water and discover why the water cycle is essential for all life on our planet. They will be asked to solve a series of clues to help them put the different stages of the water cycle in order. They can also join in with curriculum-linked interactive activities, geared towards children aged 7 to 11.
The lesson also features contributions from Robbie Kirkman, the Eden Project’s education team lead, who has been broadcasting virtual livestreams from the Rainforest Biome to school children around the world for the past two years, covering topics including biodiversity, sustainability, climate change and our connections to the rainforest.
Robbie said: “Education is at the heart of everything we do here. Through our educational mission, we look to connect future generations to nature and encourage them to see themselves as part of the natural world. Our programmes empower young people to better understand how they can help nurture and protect the planet. We were delighted to welcome the BBC Live Lessons team to film a lesson with us - particularly for Earth Day, which shines a spotlight on all that we believe in.”
Kate Lennon, executive producer at BBC Teach, said: “We’re pleased to be marking Earth Day with an exciting Live Lesson about the water cycle and its vital role in sustaining life on the planet. Working with the Eden Project provides a stunning location to help us bring the topic to life.”
Earth Day is a global movement and annual awareness day marked on April 22 every year and aims to highlight the importance of protecting the environment and improving the world we live in. The first Earth Day was held in 1970 and now unites over one billion people of all ages in nearly 200 countries to be involved.
The BBC Live Lesson marks the second consecutive year that the Eden Project’s Rainforest Biome has been used as a location to highlight Earth Day, having provided the backdrop to a one-off green special of ITV’s Loose Women panel show last year (2024).
A further live lesson - focused on the Eden Project’s annual food sharing initiative The Big Lunch - takes place on April 25, when storytellers will share the ‘Rainforest Big Lunch’ story. Children from Key Stages 1 and 2 will have the opportunity to solve riddles and find some of the Biomes most iconic plants, all while considering the connection between tropical rainforests and the food eaten in the UK ahead of The Big Lunch on June 7 and 8.
In the past year alone, the Eden Project has welcomed over 31,000 school children onto site for an educational experience that cannot be found anywhere else. The team offer independent, teacher-led trips, or fully facilitated days complete with curriculum-linked school workshops.
Additionally, the past year also saw the education team engage with almost 75,000 online learners through workshops for individual schools, livestreams and online resource downloads such as lesson plans.
To find out more about educational opportunities available at the Eden Project, visit www.edenproject.com/learn.
For more information on The Big Lunch see www.thebiglunch.com.
