For my 2017 blog I want to seek out encounters with with some of the UK’s native animals and birds.  Despite working outside in some beautiful Yorkshire woodlands, we rarely see much wildlife beyond birds, grey squirrels and the occasional startled deer.  The time of day and the noise of children enjoying forest school has a lot to do with that.  But significantly our chances of coming face to face with the wild are dwindling as many man-made factors such as development, pollution and climate change are causing nature to disappear at a disturbing rate. (more…)

The humble bare stick, plentiful and coming in all shapes and sizes, is the building block of many winter making activities.  We’ve spent this month at forest school collecting, carving and crafting them into simple decorations to celebrate the season. While many beautiful Christmas craft projects are so intricate they are only possible in the comfort and warmth of your own home, all the ideas below are tried and tested simple ideas to make outdoors. (more…)

It is a little known fact that November marks the opening of the Wild Soup hunting season.  These shy non-native creatures can be found hiding in our woodlands and tracking them down can be a fun sport during our autumn forest school sessions or family walks.  At this time of year their distinctive winter plumage stands out amongst the muted colours of the forest, so the canny creatures will seek shelter in nooks and crannies of rocks and thick brambles to attempt to stay away from hunters’ eyes. (more…)

If you are thinking that the autumn colours seem particularly vivid this year, you’d be right.  The combination of a wet spring and some sunny late summer days have given the trees a good growing season and built up the conditions for spectacular display of autumn colour, which keeps taking my breath away.

The range of reds, oranges and yellows have inspired some fantastic artwork in our half term forest schools, like this mandala that Fiona and Charlie helped the children make on our Keighley programme.  The collecting and arranging of different leaves is a celebration of pattern and colour. (more…)

As children we would dream of having adventures like the Swallows and Amazons:  when their summer holidays came round the Walker children would spend it camping on an island in the middle of a lake. With no adults on hand and just the cavalier parental advice that ‘if not duffers, won’t drown’, they spend their holidays having adventures in boats and sleeping under the stars. (more…)