To date, a cursory examination of the literature tells us that a large number of citizen science projects have been, or are, in the environmental domain. It is thus on environmental citizen science that we focus this work. This chapter suggests why children ought to be involved in citizen science – largely through environmental projects, highlights some case study examples to show positive and negative outcomes of child participation in said projects, comments on the potential contributions to science education and environmental awareness, and highlights some practical considerations of child involvement in citizen science. This work is thus premised on the two-way benefits of engaging children in environmental citizen science:

1. Children can both learn from and contribute to environmental knowledge, education and scientific enquiry; and

2. Where activities take place outdoors, child involvement in citizen science provides access to the environment, enabling children to develop environmental awareness, responsibility, emotional and physical benefits.

As the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) assert in their
formative ‘Ten Principles of Citizen Science’, ‘Citizen science is a flexible concept which can be adapted and applied within diverse situations and disciplines’. It is exactly this adaptability and promotion of diversity which we embrace in this chapter, as we argue that such approaches can open up opportunities, outlined below, for child participation, in the environ- mental field. Furthermore, the involvement of individuals, (thus including children), in citizen science is advocated in ECSA Principle 3, which states that ‘learning opportunities, personal enjoyment, social benefits, satisfaction through contributing to scientific evidence e.g., to address local, national and international issues [. . .] and influence policy’, inter alia, may be some of the gains of participation in citizen science projects, and this is very much aligned to the work of environmentalism.