How does it work?
We run full day forest school sessions during school holidays for children age five and up, and Sophie works with schools and on flexi school programs during term time. How does it work? Here you can read:
What does a forest school session look like?
Is my child old enough?
What do they need to wear?
What sessions are coming up?
What is Flexi school?
Check out blogs to read about previous sessions…
If your child is under 5, you’ve seen the wee ones toddling around Pollok Country Park in their red, yellow and blue waterproofs, you'll be looking for Glasgow’s Woodland Outdoor Kindergarden.
What does a forest school session look like?
At the drop off and pick up point we'll assemble the group for the day, and after saying bye to the parents we get into a circle, play a name game or two to introduce ourselves, and walk to the forest school site together. Getting to the forest school site is usually a 10 minute easy walk, and children often enjoy helping carry the kit which is usually in a trolley. We play transition games as we travel to and from the site which helps everyone get to know everyone else, and recognise natural landmarks along the way.
Once we arrive at the forest school site we agree and make a camp area for keeping our bags dry, and make sure everyone is familiar with different areas of the woods, such as the fire area, toilet tent and hand washing area, and the edges of the play space. We have a range of games and tried and tested ways of introducing the children to the safety and hygiene routines so that the boundaries of how we operate through the session are established with confidence from the start. During this introductory part of the session, we will also let the children know about any planned activities for the day, and the timings of snacks and lunch.
The forest school sites we use are big enough for participants to be out of eyeline of the base camp, and parents should know that unsupervised free play, out of the sight of adults, is highly valued within all forest school settings. This type of play does not take up the whole session, and the spaces we operate in do allow for it. We use a wolf howl, or an agreed call to call children back to camp, and often we will practise responding to this call through a game at the start of the sessions. Sometimes we also use an emergency whistle. We establish what we’re using at the start of each session depending on the nature of the group.
In the first part of the session, we will often ask children what they’d like to play, and have a group game together. We often set up hammocks pretty early in a session, and we usually set up tree swings and sometimes ladders and monkey bars if children are interested. At forest school we follow the interests of the children, and bring simple forest school kit including ropes, hammocks, hand tools and other play triggers to support children's play. Some of our most memorable sessions involve minimal kit, and we love creating imaginary worlds, games, dens and beings with natural resources.
If there’s interest, we tend to run fire lighting activities right before lunchtime so that we can have a fire during lunch, and we’ll keep that going through the afternoon for cooking a snack later. We encourage everyone to eat together at lunchtime, and we tend to make sure everyone has eaten something during a session as energy levels can get low quickly outside, especially in the winter months. Day-long sessions often finish about three, and we’ll pack up our kit with the children, have a closing circle to share any reflections on the day and to find out what we might need to bring to support activities on the next session. We travel back to the meeting point where the parents are, again, using games and natural landmarks as we go.
Is my child old enough?
We rephrase this question is by asking "is my child ready for Forest School?"
To find the answer, here are some additional questions we ask parents to get a sense of where their child is at in terms of their experience of spending hours outside in the woods, and how they will get on in sessions.
"Has your child ever attended an outdoor kindergarten?" if they have been to outdoor kindergarten for a couple days a week over the course of a few months, they will be well accustomed to spending hours outside in all weathers and this is fantastic physical preparation for joining Forest School. If they haven't I ask "How much time do they spend outside during a week? Do they like going on walks and playing outside?" This usually helps us get an idea of how accustomed your child is to being outside, and what their fitness and tolerance for less-mild weather will be.
If your answer to this is "not very much" please don't let that put you off bringing them along, if you feel it's right for them. We work with many children who haven't been out much, and we find they usually settle into things over the course of the weeks they're with us. Being outside is natural for all of us, and our bodies adapt well if we’ve got decent packed lunches and a bit of shelter when the weathers' wet.
When do Forest School sessions happen?
We run forest school sessions during school holidays and in-service days. You can find out which sessions are open for booking here: https://bookwhen.com/glasgowforestschool
What should my child wear?
We tend to treat Spring or April sessions as winter months in terms of clothing - let's face it, this is Scotland. If we get too hot for any reason we can always take off a layer to cool down but we usually find we need to put them back on fairly quickly. We often have heavy rain showers during these months so waterproof trousers and waterproof jacket are essential.
Summer Clothes
June to end of August
Long cotton trousers or leggings, or shorts if they want. Wearing shorts puts children at greater risk of being bitten by ticks which sometimes carry disease. Please be aware there are ticks in Pollok Country Park and you can find more info about ticks here.
Sturdy waterproof shoes that they don't mind getting muddy. For example, strong waterproof shoes, hiking boots or wellies are recommended year round. In summer, when it's exceptionally dry, children do come in trainers, but, be warned, any sneakers needing to be kept fresh should be left at home.
At least two layers under a waterproof jacket. For example, a long sleeve cotton shirt and a a light cotton jumper either on or in their bag
Waterproof jacket and trousers can be worn or carried in their bag, but they should bring them every day, just in case the weather turns. They are great on windy days too as they can block the wind from reaching our skin. Strong wind is common in Scotland and we use more energy keeping warm in wind, even in summer.
Winter Clothes
September through to the end of April/May here in Scotland.
Think LAYERS! Priority for clothes in winter should be layering thin natural fibre longsleeve tees, jumpers and leggings.
We recommend two layers on the legs. For example, at least one cotton/wool blend layer underneath waterproof trousers as a bare minimum. Waterproof trousers cut the wind down which can really help us keep that part of our body warm.
For top layers we usually recommend three layers at least underneath the waterproof jacket. For example, long sleeve tee, short sleeve tee, wooly jumper or fleece and waterproof, padded/insulated coat on top. Second-hand ski or snowboard jackets are useful, and if you cant get those, a fleece jacket over their woolly jumper, plus a thin waterproof will do.
Hats. When the temperature dips below 5 degrees, Sophie has been known to wear double hats at forest school. We lose a lot of heat off the top of our head and a hat can help us maintain our body heat really well in winter.
Gloves are useful however we work with our hands a lot in forest school, and find cutting the tips off some gloves can be a good way to keep active hands warm. Fingerless gloves for children who especially enjoy the small woodcraft work with us.
Thick socks or double up?
The debate rages. Two pairs of thin cotton socks a inside boots an often provide more insulation than one pair of thick socks, the key is avoiding squeezing the feet with too much padding that the blood can't circulate.
Clothing - top tips from Sophie
Think layers! A vest under multiple layers will probably do more heat capture than a thick winter coat that restricts movement. Cotton vests or if you can manage it the wool and merino vests will do the most heat retention for your child in winter.
Any kind of wool jumper is going to be a better insulator than polyester, but a polyester micro fleece over a woolly jumper is an ideal layer combination for winter sessions.
Under 5 degrees, we need to be wearing at least 5 layers before we put on our coats, and double hats!
What is Flexi School?
It’s where you work with your child’s school to make a plan that they can attend school part time, and agree together what they do for the rest of their week. Check out Gina Lundy’s blog which says as much as we could about the process for parents and flexi school in Glasgow https://www.wearewonder.org/blog/wtfs
Right now - late summer 2024 - there are a couple organisations providing weekday sessions for a mix of home educated and flexi school children. Sophie works with both of these organisations, be in touch to find out more.
https://www.wildwoodlandlearning.co.uk/
If you have any other questions about forest school, please have a look around the blogs or contact sophie on glasgowforestschools@gmail.com.