Forest School Wild Play: Outdoor Fun with Earth, Air, Fire & Water

by Jane Worroll

Peter Houghton (Illustrator)

Aimed at parents, teachers and Forest School leaders, this new book from Jane Worroll & Peter Houghton is packed full of fantastic new Forest School activities. It has a special focus on the elements and on making children feel connected to the natural world through imagination and storytelling.   

The ultimate antidote to screen time – outdoor play with your kids! Whether you are a parent, a teacher, a Forest School leader or anyone else looking after children, this invaluable guide to nature-based play is full of ideas to get kids outdoors, learning about and connecting with nature, developing new skills and having fun. These new Forest School crafts, games and survival activities are all themed around the elements of earth, air, fire and water, with an underlying message of sustainability and wonder at the amazing web of life. 

For earth, make a mud slide, try Bogolan mud painting on cloth, or hurl mud missiles at a moving target. For air, make a bullroarer or a whistle, build a kite and fly it, or predict the weather by reading the clouds. For fire, dig a Dakota fire pit, make a bug-repellent torch or learn how to navigate using a shadow stick. For water, mix natural dyes, build and test a rainproof den, or drink foraged birch twig tea from a crafted log cup. There are also four magical stories to tell the children – one for each of the elements –guaranteed to spark their imagination.
 

• ISBN10: 1786784203
• ISBN13: 9781786784209
• Publish Date: 8 June 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Watkins Publishing
• Edition: 0th New edition
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 168
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781786784209

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Forest School Wild Play is a sensible and exuberant guide to outdoor fun by Jane Worroll. Released 8th June 2021 by Watkins, it's 168 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a fun and healthy learning-rich guide for facilitators (and older kids)which contains tips and tutorials for engaging play activities outdoors. The chapters are grouped thematically by primal element: earth, air, fire, and water. The activities are appropriate for a wide age range and the number of suggested participants as well as safety considerations are provided by the authors along with alternatives and related activities.

Many of the activities are appropriate for all ages, from preschool kids through teenagers. Tutorials are presented with info on setting, ages, learning goals, tools and supplies, and optional alternative activities. The step by step instructions which follow are well written and specific. "Try this" tips are scattered throughout the text in highlighted text sidebars. I really liked that the authors had a mostly hands-off style of engagement, suggesting to teachers and facilitators that they provide the minimum of intervention and only then in regard to safety.

The graphics and illustrations are woodsy and really suit the style of the book. The text and layout are high contrast and easy to read with monochrome line drawn illustrations throughout. There are no photographs, but the illustrations are easy to follow and add a lot of character to the book. I didn't miss not having photographs and think the execution was very much in keeping with the outdoorsy vibe of the book.

Although it's aimed at kids, there is a quite surprising amount of bushcraft and practical survival advice contained here. There are also a lot of fun activities (making a bullroarer, simple kite, and wood whistle for example) which hide lots of practical skills.

Five stars. This is a -very- well written and presented book. It would make a superlative choice for public or school library acquisition, makers' groups, youth activity groups, and similar.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.