In the younger years, children are mainly exploring the different textures, sounds and sights of the forest. They learn how to investigate the area around them and develop skills and traits such as play, sharing, patience and resilience.
In the older years, children explore the forest in greater depth and learn more complex skills such as using tools and making fire. A greater understanding is developed of how the forest ecosystem works and how every element of the forest from the ground to the tops of the trees is important and plays a role.
Some forest schools are very child-led in their learning whereas others are more directed, or perhaps have a mixture of free-play and directed time.
You can learn more about Forest Schools and how to become a leader using the links below:
🌳 Forest Schools
🌳 Wild Forest School
You can view some more detailed Forest School activities in the left-hand side bar of this page. These activities are also available to download as pdfs from TES.
Here are some further ideas for outdoor activities and wild play:
🌰 Nature mobile
Choose a main twig or stick and tie four or five different lengths of string to it. Search around the forest floor for leaves, pine cones, feathers etc and attach to your pieces of string
🌰 Fairy dens
Build a mini den using twigs, string and a piece of scrap cloth or an old tea towel. Make the den as snug and as weather-proof as possible... test it with 'rain' from a watering can if you dare!
🌰 Clay tree spirits
Get a ball of clay and press it against the bark of a tree to get an interesting texture. Make a face out of the clay and add leaves, seeds and sticks to make hair, eyes, ears, wings, and jewellery or decorations. Choose a name for your tree spirit and tell a story about them
🌰 Nature art
Select four twigs and arrange them on the ground into the shape of a picture frame. Choose different items from the woodland floor to place into your frame and make a picture!
🌰 Dream catcher
Create a square or circle frame using some twigs. Wrap some old wool or string around the frame to hold it together. Then stretch some lengths of wool across the frame to get a spider web effect. Add beads or feathers to the centre of your web or hang decorations using string from the bottom of your web.
🌰 Pebble bugs
Choose some pebbles from around your forest area and use paint to turn them into bugs. You could paint things like a ladybird or a bee, or you can make up your own bug!
🌰 Mini gardens
Get a large seed tray and use any materials such as pebbles, twigs, lollipop sticks to set out a garden. You can even use an old bottle cap to make a pond, or some moss to make a quick and easy lawn! Plant some fast growing seeds such as cress or mustard seeds and watch them grow. Don't forget to look after your garden and make sure it gets a good amount of water and sunlight!
🌰 Leaf tile
Get some quick-dry clay, roll it out and cut it into a square tile shape. Press a leaf into the clay and then leave to dry until solid. Paint using poster paint to bring out the shape of the leaf.
🌰 Leaf printing
Find a piece of white cloth such as an old white tea towel, and a rolling pin or wooden hammer. Go round your garden and find some leaves and petals of different colours. Place them on one half of your cloth so they are nicely spaced out, and then fold your cloth over. Gently tap over the leaves and petals with your rolling pin and you should start to see the colours come through.
🌰 Journey stick
When you are out on a long walk, find a stick that you feel happy to carry (not too long or too short). As you walk along, attach items that you come across to your stick with some wool. This will create a record of your journey!
🌰 Mini raft
Build a mini raft with some twigs, string and leaves. Try and make it look like a proper raft, and think about how to make it float! Test it out using a bowl of water and see who's raft floats the best.
🌰 Scavenger hunt
Go round your forest area and see if you can find something that is: GREE, BEAUTIFUL, ROUGH, WET, ROUND, SPIKY, SMOOTH, GENTLE, SPONGY, MAKES YOU SMILE :)
🌰 Tree rubbings
Take a piece of paper and some crayons. Place a piece of paper on the tree bark and rub your crayon over it. How does it look? Do anther rubbing on a different tree. Does it look the same or different?
🌰 Wild weaving
Create a loom by tying lots of twigs together that are the same length to make a rectangle. Weave any leaves, grasses, feathers etc that you can find into the loom.
🌰 Mud cafe
Find any pots, cups, or even cupcake cases and set up a 'mud cafe'. Use old saucepans and trays to 'cook up' your creations and then invite your customers along!
