Future Chicken is a digital multiverse designed to help children imagine how today’s choices can lead to a more sustainable future. At the heart of the project is Future Chicken—a superhero bird from the year 2050, where climate change has been solved—who travels back in time to inspire hope and action.

“Kids are absorbing messages about the climate crisis from everywhere from the news and social media but they’re not always hearing what people are doing to solve these challenges,” said Annabel Slaight, one of the visionaries behind Future Chicken and a co-founder of the much-loved OWL and Chickadee magazines. She brought Trent University on board to help define and guide the multi-platform project.

Co-created and produced by the ClearWater Futures Foundation and Vancouver’s Wind Sun Sky Entertainment, Future Chicken draws on the expertise of Trent University researchers. Trent President Cathy Bruce chairs the platform’s Learning Innovation Committee, bringing together experts from across Canada to guide the educational framework behind the project.

Trent experts offer lessons in pedagogy

Future Chicken is grounded in a set of guiding principles co-developed by Slaight and President Bruce through the Learning Innovation Committee, and with support from Trent School of Education researchers. This framework informed everything from the characters to the structure and educational approach of the Future Chicken universe.

“There’s a deep responsibility in designing something that shapes how children see the world,” says Dr. Blair Niblett, associate professor in Trent’s School of Education and current chair of the Learning Innovation Committee. “Our role was to ensure a strong foundation of guiding principles, but the real magic happens when the creative team runs with it. They bring the fun, the humour, the heart. That’s what draws kids in. Learning follows.”

More than just ‘edutainment’

From short, animated videos, podcasts, games, and learning tools, Future Chicken is designed to meet kids where they are on platforms like Youtube, Roblox and streaming services, delivering content that blends quality storytelling with science-backed knowledge.

Tara Flynn, director of the Partners in Education & Action Research (PEAR) Lab at Trent, says themes of water, energy, food systems, community, and cycles in nature along with character personalities became vessels for conveying complex messages to children.

“What makes Future Chicken different is that it isn’t just about teaching kids facts about climate change,” said Flynn. “It’s about how kids learn, what messages they internalize, and how those messages can empower them to act in the real world, especially during those deeply impressionable years between six and ten. That’s what’s driving the PEAR lab’s next phase of collaboration with the ClearWater Futures Foundation: a new initiative called 10 Million Kids Taking Planetary Action, focused on helping children become agents of real environmental change.”

A new way to chicken out

Now that Future Chicken has launched, Flynn and Prof. Niblett continue to provide guidance ensuring the platform remains grounded in the learning framework and educational principles, while supporting the creative team's freedom to design engaging content.

They’re also exploring ways to bring Future Chicken into classrooms, such as engaging Bachelor of Education students who can serve as school-based ambassadors for Future Chicken, helping teachers bring the stories to life and cut through the noise of today’s digital landscape.

“Trent being on board from the beginning has added real depth to the whole initiative,” said Slaight. “With our next collaborative work about to begin, we have the chance to take Future Chicken from a good idea to a great movement.”

Perhaps this finally answers the age-old question of why the chicken crossed the road: to inspire action in others.

Learn more about the Trent School of Education.