About Forest Schools

What happens at a typical session?

A typical session will often involve many things. It usually begins with the same routine - always getting ready to go outside - dressing in appropriate clothing, wellies and waterproofs. The group will gather at a seating circle of logs and catch up with what happened at the last session, what the weather is like, what they plan to do at this session. Forest School sessions usually run for a minimum of one and a half hours, most are two hours, but many last longer.

Participants in Forest School are free to choose amongst many activities; some will have been introduced by the leader, for example bug hunting, mud painting, collecting, counting. Many are child-initiated and these are as varied as the children and participants involved; some examples include building a dam, creating an assault course, shelter building.

Forest School also uses handtools to master a variety of tasks under the tutoring of the leader, Forest School participants can learn how to use the tools and use them to help them with their existing projects/activities - e.g. use a saw to cut wood to the right length to use in a shelter. They can also use the tools to create new activities - e.g. making items from wood - a mallet, a kazoo, a coaster etc. Activities using tools can be very simple or take many weeks to complete something more intricate and with more skill involved.

Many Forest School sessions will have a snack time, which is a nice way to get everyone back together to share what they've been doing. It may also be a good time to have a campfire and heat some water for a hot drink, perhaps cook some food on the fire.