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About Climate Detectives Kids

Climate Detectives kids challenges students to make a difference by engaging with Earth’s environment to help protect it.

In this project students will complete activities focusing on Earth’s environment, collect evidence of their discoveries and earn badges for each activity!

The more we know about our planet the more we can do to protect it!

1 hour per activity

suggested for up to 12 years old

up to the whole class

Non Competitive

How to take part

Choose one of the proposed activities or create your own, and submit a description and a picture of your project.

Teams that submit one activity will receive a silver badge. If teams complete two activities, they will receive a gold badge plus a virtual certificate as a recognition of their detective work to understand and protect our home planet.

Visit the virtual gallery of your team and share your project with your family and friends!

Timeline

The project is open from 17 September 2025 to 31 July 2026. Teams can submit the activities all at once or in different moments.

Why participate

By participating in the Climate Detectives kids project, young students will learn about Earth’s science and environment through selected learning resources and hands-on activities as well as understand the importance of respecting our environment.

Who can participate/ Eligibility

Age range: The Climate Detectives Kids activities are suggested for ages 8 to 12 years old but can easily be adapted for other age groups and skill levels.

Teams: To participate in Climate Detectives, teams should be supported by a Team Leader (a teacher, educator or parent). The project must be submitted by the teacher, educator or parent. A student team must comprise of a minimum of 2 students and each student team member must respect one of the following conditions:

- Team of students enrolled full-time in a school;
- Team of students in home schooling condition (certified by the National Ministry of Education or delegated authority);
- Team of members of a social club enrolled full-time in a school.

The student team must be resident of an ESA Member State, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania or Slovakia, and at least 50% of the students included in a team must be nationals (i.e. have the nationality) of an ESA Member State, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania or Slovakia.

Only in exceptional cases may a student team, composed of nationals of an ESA Member State, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania or Slovakia, but not residing in one of these countries, be deemed eligible. The assessment and approval of such cases remain at the sole discretion of ESA Education.

Guidelines on the use of AI

We respectfully request that, as the team leader, you oversee your students’ responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the development of their Climate Detectives project and support them in acquiring valuable STEM skills and competencies. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is only permitted under the following guidelines:

All core investigation work must be created by the students using non-AI tools. AI-generated imagery may only be used in addition to their original image(s). These must be clearly based and traceable to their original work.

AI may be used to improve grammar, structure or clarity of written descriptions, but the description shall not be generated fully in AI.

Any use of AI must be clearly documented by using the AI checkboxes in the project submission.

Submissions that rely solely on AI-generated content without evidence of student-led design will not be accepted. Final judgement will be at the sole discretion of ESA Education.

Suggested activities

Explore the Climate Detectives activities and learn more about Earth’s environment and how to monitor our planet from space. You can also explore extra tools and resources in your country page.

One year on Earth – Understanding seasons

Brief description This resource includes two activities to foster and enhance pupils’ knowledge of seasons, and focuses on the basic...

Is ozone good or bad? -The discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole

Brief description In this set of three activities, students will learn about ozone and the impacts – good and bad...

From the Ground and from the Sky- Analysing and understanding images of planet Earth taken from space

Brief description In this set of three activities, pupils are introduced to the idea of remote observation of the Earth...

Astro farmer

Brief description:In this set of six activities, students will investigate which factors affect plant growth, and relate these factors to...

The Water Cycle

Brief description In this set of six activities, students will learn about the water cycle and, in particular, how water...

The ice is melting – How can we investigate the effects of melting ice?

Brief description In this set of four activities, pupils will explore the impacts of global warming and melting ice on...

Earth under the lid – Understanding the greenhouse effect

Brief description In this set of two activities, pupils will learn about our atmosphere and the greenhouse gases that it...

Country under Threat – The prospects for life on small islands

Brief description In this set of four activities pupils will learn about the causes and potential impacts of sea-level rise...

The Magic of Light – Using spectroscopes and colour wheels to study the properties of light

Brief description In this set of eight activities, pupils work individually or in groups to build a spectroscope that can...

Nose up high in the sky – Observing and measuring weather conditions

Brief description In this set of three activities, students will learn how their senses and instruments can be used to...

Weather vs Climate – Understanding the difference between weather and climate

Brief description In this set of three activities, students will learn the difference between weather and climate. They will identify...