The only negative thing about this book is that I had to wait until after a week’s holiday to review it!! And then I was nearly late for the school run because of the darned thing!
Written by husband and wife team Naomi Walmsley and Dan Westall, Forest School Adventure is a real outdoorsy gem. It should be on every family’s Christmas list.
Inspire Kids to Get Outdoors
On first flick through, Forest School Adventure is a book for parents wanting to learn easy outdoor skills to have fun in the woods with their kids (including those parents who like to read up in advance so the kids think they’re awesome outdoor adventurers!)
Children’s Reading Book
It’s also appealing as a reading book for kids, probably from age 7, to go through and choose activities they’d like to try. With supervision a lot of these can be attempted by the children themselves.
Caroline’s ever-growing list of things to try ‘without Wild Mummy’ includes goblin village making, natural collages and sculptures and one she won’t be able to keep me away from, making a bottle filter for water! Great for recycling plastic bottles.
Younger children will enjoy looking at the pictures. And they’ll all be dragging you down to woods at every opportunity!
Forest School Leaders
Unusual craft/survival skills such as making an atl atl & spear make it a useful book for trainee and qualified Forest School Leaders, as an aide memoire or inspiration for session planning. If you don’t know what an atl atl is you’ll just have to buy a copy!
Family Fun
Caroline and I have loved poring over this book, heads together, planning what we’d like to try next (I have a certificate in outdoor learning and there are lots of ideas I’ve not even heard of!) It’s a great all-round family hit in our house and leather pouches for carrying tinder are next on our agenda.
There are also recipes which we’re going to try, lots that you wouldn’t necessarily consider in the woods, and we’ve already added cheese (and blueberries though they weren’t suggested in the book!) to our damper bread at Cubs, as per a recipe in the food section!
Learn New Skills with Forest School Adventure
The fascinating authors are trained in survival, bushcraft and forest school. Naomi and Dan undertook a 5-month Stone Age immersion experience in America; basically wilderness living with no modern equipment, so if that doesn’t qualify them to write a book like this, I don’t know what does!
They include anecdotes from their wilderness experience (being stared at in animal-hide camouflage on having had to briefly re-enter civilisation to avoid a forest fire was particularly insightful) and photos of children in action in the woods.
The book yells out to be read over and again and taken into the woods to get covered in mud and ash as you try new activities.
It’s a perfect book for any family wanting to have fun outdoors in the woods. The are four sections, Nature Awareness, Bushcraft, Wild Food and Games covering everything from simple outdoor crafts for toddlers to games, fire-lighting, cooking, spear-making, leatherwork, survival, first aid and almost everything in between. More things you can learn about include: –
- natural glue making
- clay pot making
- foraging
- healing herbs
- plant identification
Design & Layout
Forest School Adventure is larger than I expected, a squat A4, and printed on a smooth, slightly matte-finished paper sourced from FSC sustainably managed forest. An immediate Brownie point from me. It was love at first sight from the moment I opened the package.
With 175 pages the book is a cross between hard and paperback. Is there a word for that? I guess it’s officially a sturdy paperback. It has a cover flap at front and rear, ideal to mark favourite pages, ideas or recipes. There are enticing photographs and illustrations throughout.
I was going to say it’s the ideal book for outdoor parents wanting to learn more forest skills but it’s so easy to use and clearly laid out I’d equally recommend it for non-outdoorsy families who are looking for inspiration and advice on how to learn woodland family activities from scratch.
Pros and Cons
Actually I’ve thought of a negative! I’d love to see a couple of pages on tree identification. There you go, it couldn’t be completely perfect. Pros – everything!
For more of our honest reviews of books and outdoor gear check out Kids of the Wild’s reviews section.
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Buy The Book
To get a copy of the Forest School Adventure Book click on the image to find prices at Amazon. RRP £16.99
Forest School Adventure book
Check out Naomi and Dan’s trailer
NB Kids of the Wild received a copy of this book for the purposes of review. All views and observations are my own (and Caroline’s, aged 9).
This is being added to my Christmas list immediately Lucy! It sounds wonderful and inspiring! Thanks for a detailed and informative review. Kelly x
Ah thanks Kelly, glad it’s inspired you. I think you’ll get a lot of use from it x
This looks like a great book, I went on a forest school workshop when I was working as a registered child minder #adventurecalling@_karendennis
Thanks for your comment Karen. Did you enjoy the course? I’d love to know what you thought of it. It’s something I was planning to do before Caroline’s cancer. Maybe in the future for me.
Perfect xmas gift for my kids thank you #adventurecalling
I’m sure they’ll like it!
Definitely one for Christmas. Would be fab to learn about stuff like this, and Rowan is really starting to enjoy reading now too.
#adventurecalling
I think anyone in the family would appreciate it under the tree! It’s great when the little ones suddenly start enjoying reading on their own isn’t it, a real milestone. Thanks for dropping by
This looks really great. Kids so love being outside and I reckon often it’s the parents that need to the push. Inspiration for everyone here. #AdventureCalling
It’s a goodie! And I totally agree about parents. Hopefully this book might inspire people
This book sounds great for outdoor interactive inspiration and ideas. thanks for sharing it, very resourceful for parents wanting to get their kids outside. #AdventureCalling
It is a really useful book for people at all skill levels in outdoor activities. Thanks for stopping by
This looks like a great book and ideal for Christmas, as you say. Our eldest starts some Forest School sessions at his primary school very soon and he can’t wait. Thanks for joining us on #adventurecalling. We open again tomorrow for more new posts.
Your little one will love forest school, I can guarantee it!
That book looks amazing, so many great ideas. Definitely one for Finn in a couple of years, he loves books so I’m sure we could have fun dreaming up ideas for adventures together! Thanks for sharing #AdventureCalling
It’s a real little gem. So glad we discovered it.
This sounds like a fantastic book to add to our collection. I’d love to learn more about this great world we are apart of. #adventurecalling
I know, Mother Nature will never be done teaching us. If only more people would listen and learn. Let’s hope #CountryKids helps x
And #AdventureCalling of course!
One more for the Christmas list! I just don’t know whether I’ll get it for myself or my oldest acorn! Can’t wait to get my hands on it!
#Adventurecalling
I think we all need to start the Icelandic book flood tradition for Christmas Eve this year!
Reading adventure books can be a gateway to developing a lifelong love for reading.