Big ideas for small people: Inside the Climate Kids project

In a world where climate change dominates the headlines, a new project is helping younger minds make sense of it all. Climate Kids, a creative initiative led by Dr Linden Ashcroft and Dr. Lily O’Neill, tackles the big questions young children are asking about our changing world—questions that often leave adults struggling for answers.

Dr. Ashcroft is a senior lecturer in climate science and science communication at the University of Melbourne, but for more than a decade, Dr Ashcroft has also been working in science communication. “A large part of my job is helping graduate researchers from all fields of science communicate their work more clearly so their research can make a positive impact on the world,” she explains.

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But it was her collaboration with Dr O’Neill that gave birth to Climate Kids. “The Climate Kids project is Lily’s baby, really,” Ashcroft says. “She felt that her sons were asking her lots of questions, and she didn’t know the answers. She’s a lawyer… works in climate and indigenous land law [but] not an expert in the types of questions that her kids were asking.”

Those questions became very real the day Lily’s eldest son heard his parents talking about bushfires. “They found poor Tom at the end of their driveway with his nappy bag packed… on his little balance bike, ready to evacuate.” That moment, both heartbreaking and heartwarming, sparked the idea for Climate Kids. As Dr Ashcroft’s children grew up, she realised they—and their friends—were asking questions about climate change, and they “deserved answers.”

“Just because they’re small doesn’t mean they’re not ready to hear about what’s happening in the world.”

The Climate Kids channel answers real questions from kids about climate change, from ‘Why is there less snow?’ to ‘Why aren’t people doing anything about it?’ “We wanted to draw on expertise across the University of Melbourne to give them some useful answers,” Ashcroft explains.

One major goal of the project is to equip parents and educators with tools to talk about complex climate issues in a way that’s honest but hopeful.

“It’s a tricky topic… because it’s scary. It’s complicated,” says Ashcroft. “Understanding or explaining why people aren’t acting on this information—that’s something I think adults struggle with, as well as kids.”

Most existing resources, Ashcroft notes, are targeted at older children. “There’s not much for that sort of eight-to-ten-year-old age bracket.” So Climate Kids aims to fill that gap—with short, engaging videos that “could be understood by kids and their grown-ups.”

Importantly, each video ends with a call to action. “The biggest myth we want to debunk is that small people can’t have a big impact,” says Ashcroft. “While it’s not the responsibility of kids to solve the climate crisis… we want people to feel empowered that their voice can make a difference.”

And it’s not just about science and politics. “We need creative thinkers. We need people who can write… who can draw… who can lead and who can follow. Whatever skills you have, climate action needs those skills.”

“We need action from everyone everywhere, everybody doing their bit, whether that’s writing to politicians, whether that’s making individual choices about where they bank and where they shop and where they holiday and what they eat,” Ashcroft adds.

Climate Kids videos run for around four to eight minutes—“about the same length of a Bluey episode,” she jokes—and come with teacher notes and classroom activities designed to encourage problem-solving and creativity. The team also welcomes feedback from teachers to improve the content.

What’s next for Climate Kids? “Season two is coming to a screen near you later this year,” says Ashcroft. Expect episodes on pollution, bushfires, clouds, and more.

At its heart, the project is personal. “Lily and I are very privileged to work in the climate space, but we’re also just two mums who care about the planet… and our kids,” she reflects. In the videos, Ashcroft plays a time-traveling scientist exploring a future where the climate crisis has been solved. “Where I go in Climate Kids, it looks pretty good—and I can see the paths we used to get there.”

And that vision, powered by hope and a touch of imagination, is something Ashcroft wants to share with children and adults alike: “It doesn’t matter what interests you—the planet needs it right now.”

Find out more about Climate Kids here.