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 Nature Journey sticksA stick becomes a map: children fasten a memento of each moment of the walk along it, then retell the journey from their stick — brilliant for language and memory.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 Sit spots and sound mapsFive minutes alone (in sight) with a card and a crayon: you are the X, mark every sound around you. The simplest mindfulness practice in the woods, and it works on every age.the Forest School app team Nature · Spring Pond dipping and frogspawn watchSpring's headline act: nets, trays and the annual frogspawn count, with a return visit to meet the tadpoles.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 Nature · Easter Bird nest building challengeCould YOU build a nest with only a beak? Pairs get 'beak rules' (finger and thumb only) and race the clock to build a nest that cradles a real egg. Perfect for spring and Easter.the Forest School app team Nature · Spring Wild garlic pestoApril's foraging classic: identify wild garlic by smell, harvest a leaf each, and pound a communal pesto for crackers. Foraging rules taught with an immediate reward.the Forest School app team