Forest School is focused around nature-based, child-led activities, ideally in a wooded environment. While one of the key principles in Forest School is to let children interact with their environment in an unstructured way, it also involves helping them explore ideas and interests by offering activity opportunities such as den making, cooking over an open fire, learning to use tools, and doing crafts with natural materials.
I run forest school sessions as part of my day job, and these posts are all about the various activities I do with the children. I am a qualified teacher and have also done the Level 3 Forest School Leader course, and have lots of experience working with children and adults of all ages and ability.
Made by hanging up several different ribbon curtains or ribbon backdrops (whatever you want to call them), this beautiful rainbow dell is a simple but really successful activity at my Forest School sessions in the summer. And is just as popular with the parents as the kids! In fact, while…
Cinnamon damper bread is a sweet and moreish twist on plain damper bread. Damper bread can be very bland if you use only the basic ingredients of flour, salt, and water. But add just a couple of extra ingredients, and suddenly that boring bread becomes a whole lot more exciting.
To make sticks of charcoal on a campfire, you only need a few commonly-available items and a bit of time! This simple activity is great for demonstrating the basic method used by charcoal burners for thousands of years, to turn wood into charcoal – one of the most useful materials…
Making this easy bird seed cake with children is a great activity to get them engaged with the local wildlife Not only will they have fun making these little bird feeders, you’ll also encourage birds into your garden, where the kids will be able to watch them more easily. Bird…
This easy apple bird feeder is a great nature craft to do with children, especially in late autumn and into winter when the birds are struggling to find food. Stringing up a feeder or two is also a great way to bring birds into your garden if you want to…
Campfire Welsh cakes are a vegan spin on traditional Welsh cakes that I cook over the fire at my forest school sessions. As there are usually large groups of children in my sessions, I try to ensure that the food we cook can be eaten by everyone. That means making…
These twiggy Santa Sticks are an old Forest School favourite woodcraft, and would normally be made using a sharp knife to carve Father Christmas’ hat, face, and beard. But the sessions I run often include preschool children who might be a bit young or inexperienced for knife work. So I…
A Forest School activity you can do anywhere Cooking bread on a stick over a campfire is a great Forest School activity that’s suitable for almost any age. The recipe is both super-simple and versatile, catering for vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free diets, while also allowing lots of scope to adapt…
Painting pumpkins for Halloween is a simple and fun alternative to carving pumpkins that allows even the smallest children get in on the fun. Want to get little ones involved in decorating for Halloween, but not ready to let them loose with a knife? This activity is the perfect solution….
Forget the plastic, and have some spooky fun in the woods with a Halloween forest school session. Over the years I’ve built up a whole assortment of frightfully good nature activities to do with children in October. Here are thirteen of my favourite tried-and-tested Halloween activities for nature play.