Forest School Handbook

by Naomi Walmsley, Dan Westall

Overview

Forest School Handbook is a lively collection of activities, crafts, bushcraft skills and nature-based play which will inspire kids to thrive outside. Whether just out for a walk, going camping or exploring in the woods, this handy-sized book will be your essential guide for connecting with the natural world. Packed with ideas and activities for children of all ages, there are bushcraft basics, survival skills, nature crafts and ideas for both energizing and peaceful outdoor play. 

Encouraging controlled risk taking, boosting social skills, wellbeing and a healthy resilience, this is the ultimate way to avoid battles over screen time and classroom-induced fatigue. 

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781784946654
Publisher:	Guild of Master Craftsman
Publication date:	05/30/2023
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	5.81(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dan Westall and Naomi Walmsley run Outback2Basics from their patch of woodland in Shropshire in the UK. Specializing in bushcraft and Stone Age skills, they provide unique experiences for school children and teachers to connect to nature. Dan has been a bushcraft teacher for many years and has also acted as a medic and survival consultant on various TV shows. Naomi is a qualified bushcraft instructor and Forest School Leader and believes that every child should be able to safely light a fire and have at least ten uses for a stick by the age of ten. Together, they undertook a five-month Stone Age immersion experience in the US, living in the wilderness without any modern equipment, profoundly influencing their lives and teaching.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Playing in nature

Nature Awareness

Mini beast hunting

Night vision

Muddy tracks

Sit spot

Stalking walks

Flour trail tracker

Observation stations

Get to know a tree

Camouflage hands

Outdoor games

Outdoor crafts

Bird feeder

Bug hotel

Playing with clay

Leaf and flower plaques

Natural collage and sculptures

Goblin villages and mini dens

Nest building

Storytelling stones

Leaf printing

Nature weaving

Shadow painting

Leaf watercolour

Nature journal

Leaf bunting

Stick boats

Things to do with conkers

Useful knots

Knot terminology

Clove hitch

Double half hitch

Sheet bend

Siberian hitch

Timber hitch

Prusik

Square lashing

Slippery guy line

Canadian jam knot

Sledge knot

Hanking cord

Shelters and dens

Lean-to shelter

A-frame shelter

Baker’s tarp

Tarp bender

Fire

Safety

Sources of tinder

Firewood

Lighting a fire with a fire steel

Fire lays

Making charcoal

Making char cloth

Carrying fire

Group bow drill

Water

Collecting water

Birch tapping

Bottle filter

Camp craft

Cordage

Giant grass rope

Knife safety

Sharpening a knife

Carving a butter knife

Leather tinder pouch

Wilderness survival

Making stretchers

Signal fire

Plants for first aid

Primitive skills

Slate arrow

Pine pitch glue

Atl atl and spear

Fat lamps

Nut lamps

Grass mat