SONIA COPELAND BLOOM is a children’s natural history author who has written six children’s books called Tales & Truths about Garden Minibeasts.
The books have a fresh, audacious and entertaining new approach to engaging children with the natural world – because a mounting body of research shows that children today spend some seven hours DAILY in front of various screens. This has an adverse effect on them – which has attracted the label Nature Deficit Children. They rarely go out to play in the countryside, or go for walks or bug hunts in the country…and the result is harmful to children – i.e. a cause for increasing obesity, depression, illness and loneliness. In the UK, the suicide rate for children is increasing as they feel trapped in their bedrooms, with their iPads and other techno-paraphernalia as almost the only contact and this leads to lack of having friends and real-life communication.
Sonia uses her books to introduce nature and ‘scary’ insects to children, thus engaging them with nature and hopefully encouraging them to go out and appreciate the real ‘beasts’ themselves. WCCA is delighted to welcome this entomologist who uses such creative and artistic ways for the betterment of childhood.
Sonia is turning her books into an animation series called BUGGLEBURY, with which she hopes to help very young children take an interest in minibeasts and thus to take an interest in the countryside and playing outdoors – with the support of families…
