The Clearing

Activity ideas from forest school practitioners, free to take — each one ready to plan straight into a session, kit list and risk-benefit starting point included. Take what you need, leave one behind.

Nature · Spring Bug hotel buildingBuild a five-star minibeast hotel from pallets, bricks, pine cones and hollow stems — then survey the guests over the following weeks.the Forest School app team Craft · Summer Hapa zome leaf printingHammer-printing: fold flowers and leaves into cloth and tap — the pigments transfer as perfect prints. Loud, energetic, and the results look gallery-worthy.the Forest School app team Craft Clay woodland facesPress a handful of clay onto a tree trunk and sculpt a face for it — the fastest route into imaginative play there is, and every tree ends up with a personality.the Forest School app team Craft Elder bead jewelleryElder has a soft pith that pushes out to leave a perfect bead — saw, push, thread. A proper tool session with a wearable result children are hugely proud of.the Forest School app team Ropes & knots Square-lashed photo framesFour sticks, one meter of string and a square lashing at each corner — a real knot skill smuggled inside a craft, finished with a woven nature picture.the Forest School app team Nature · Autumn Leaf mandalasBig collaborative land art from autumn's free art supplies — sort by colour, build outward from the centre, photograph from above before the wind takes it back.the Forest School app team Craft · Halloween Woodland wands and potionsHalloween the forest-school way: whittle-free wand decorating, then a potion station of mud, petals and 'eye of newt' (acorns) with incantations mandatory.the Forest School app team Fire · Bonfire Night Charcoal from the fire: woodland drawingMake your own charcoal in a biscuit tin on the embers, then draw with it — fire, chemistry and art in one session. A natural Bonfire Night pairing.the Forest School app team Craft · Christmas Stick stars and cinnamon bundlesChristmas decorations that smell as good as they look: five-stick woven stars and cinnamon-stick bundles tied with garden twine — the take-home families actually keep.the Forest School app team