Six outdoor activities to try with kids this spring

Spring is here and it’s time for outdoor adventures in the sun. Whether you want to keep kids entertained in school holidays or on a weekend, there are plenty of activities to explore. From viking knitting to hapa zoom, forest schools from around the UK share their top outdoor pursuits for you to try.

Bug hotels
Charcoal drawing sticks
Hapa zome
Tree spirits
Viking knitting
Wild garlic naan bread

Bug Hotels

According to a report commissioned by the Wildlife Trusts, insect populations may have declined by around 50% or more since 1970. The report gives one of the causes as habitat loss. Help protect these important creatures by creating bug hotels for them to live in. You could do this in your garden (where you can easily observe hotel guests) or any outdoor area.

What you’ll need

A container (which could be a bottle, pipe or tin), string and scissors (if you’re hanging your bug hotel up), natural materials (such as sticks, bark, pinecones, moss and/or leaves).

Instructions

1. Take your natural materials and fill your container up. Remember, you want to invite insects in, so leave little gaps for them to enter and exit.
2. Hang, screw to a wall or find a safe space to tuck your bug hotels away.
3. Wait for your hotel guests to arrive!

Pip Nash, Sticks and Stones Forest School, Aberdeenshire

Charcoal drawing sticks

What you’ll need

A metal tin with a lid (biscuit tins are ideal), sticks (about finger thickness), secateurs, a nail, a hammer, welding / BBQ leather safety gloves (available from hardware stores), a small mound of clay or wet mud, a gardening trowel, wood cuttings.

You’ll also need a fire in a fire pit. Here’s some guidance and advice for safely building and managing a campfire.

Instructions (for once your fire is going)

1. Cut the sticks to size with the secateurs, to fit neatly in the tin. Sticks can be freshly cut or dry wood. Don’t use wood that’s soft and starting to rot. Completely fill your metal tin with the sticks. The aim is to leave as little air space as possible. Use small scraps of wood cuttings to fill any gaps.
2. Before you put the lid onto the tin, use the hammer and nail to make a few small holes in the top. These will allow gases to escape once the tin is on the fire.
3. Place the lid onto the tin, making sure that it fits firmly and isn’t loose.
4. Wearing the safety gloves, carefully place your tin in the centre of the fire, making sure the lid stays firmly in place.
5. Allow the tin to sit in the fire for about 45 to 60 minutes. While the tin is on the fire, you’ll see gases start to emit from the holes in the lid. These will look like jets of steam. When the charcoal is almost ready in the tin, you may also notice flames coming from the holes as the gases ignite. After around 45- 60 minutes, you’ll notice less gas being emitted and it’s now time to remove the tin.
6. Wearing the safety gloves, carefully lift the tin from the fire and place it on the ground. Place it on a firm, non-flammable surface and not on to grass, which will scorch. If you have a shovel, you may also be able to use this to lift the tin from the fire. Don’t allow the lid to come off the tin.
7. Once the hot tin has been safely removed and placed on a firm surface, use the clay or mud to cover the holes in the tin lid. This is to prevent oxygen being sucked back into the tin as it cools, which would cause the hot charcoal inside to ignite. After about 20-30 minutes, the tin should be cool enough to touch. While you’re waiting for the tin to cool, why not toast some marshmallows on the fire?
8. Once the tin is cool enough to touch, you can remove the lid to reveal the charcoal sticks inside. Be careful when you first handle them as they may still be hot.
9. Once cooled, your charcoal sticks are ready to draw with. Draw on paper, card or even wood.

Top tip

Charcoal drawings can smudge. If you want to reduce the risk of your finished drawing smudging, give it a light spray of hairspray. The fixant in the spray helps to reduce smudging. Make sure you don’t use the spray near the campfire or any other sources of heat, as it’s flammable.

Greg Woolley, Nant y Glyn Forest School, Colwyn Bay

Hapa Zome

What you’ll need

Material (calico works well), a hammer or rocks, lots of leaves and flowers.

Instructions

• Find a flat, hard surface (like a log) and rest your material on top.
• Place your flowers and/or leaves on the material and add a different piece of material on top.
• Hit everything gently with a hammer or rocks, and watch as the dye from the flower or leaf magically appears on the material.

Top tip

Calico is a great choice for your material. Ask an adult to cut it into triangle shapes before you ‘hapa zome’ it. After it’s been dyed, add sticks to create flags.

Emma Rance, Sidcot Forest School, North Somerset

Tree spirits

These tree spirits are not only fun to make, but they’re also supposed to keep your chosen tree healthy.

What you’ll need

Natural clay (mud will work too but pick out the earthworms first!), water (if the weather has been dry), and natural materials from around your chosen tree – leaves, berries, sticks, moss, different colour mud – anything goes.

Instructions

1. Take a lump of clay or soil and shape it into a ball. Rub a little bit of your ball on the tree you’ve chosen, then splat the ball on the same area. Squash or rub it on well to make sure it doesn’t fall off prematurely. You can finish off shaping it once it’s stuck to the tree.
2. Look around the woodland floor near your tree to find natural materials you can use for decoration – berries or flowers could be perfect for eyes, and you can style your tree spirit’s hair by adding moss, leaves or grass. Who knows what you’ll find around you!
3. When you’re picking the spirit’s natural facial features, please aim for materials that are already loose or, if you’re picking from growing plants, make sure you only take a little bit and leave plenty for woodland creatures.
4. Wash your hands after this activity, just in case you encountered poisonous plants while creating your tree spirit.

Veronika Simon, Bristol Forest School, Bristol

Viking knitting

What you’ll need

A circle of stiff card, scissors, a pencil, 2-3 colours of wool

Instructions

1. Cut out a circle of card using something circular, like a mug or a small bowl, as a template. Thick card from a cardboard box works well.
2. Mark a 0.5cm line in pencil at each quarter and then equidistant in between each quarter. You should have eight marks at equal distances around the edge of the circle.
3. Using the scissors, make a 0.5cm snip on each mark.
4. Make a hole in the middle of the card – the end of the scissors works well to do this.
5. Cut seven pieces of wool, each as long as your arm. Tie them together at one end with a simple knot.
6. Push the knot so it only just goes through the hole but doesn’t go too far through. Put each of the long strands of wool into each slot. It should look like a woolly jelly fish.
7. You’ll have one empty slot left. Call this north, like on a compass.
8. Count round clockwise to strand number three.
9. Lift it up, out the slot and place into the empty ‘north’ slot.
10. Turn the cardboard anti clockwise until the empty slot is back in the north position at the top. Repeat until you have created a multi coloured cord growing out through the hole.
11. To finish off, unhitch the strands of wool from the slots.
12. Pull them through the hole and tie them off in a knot.

Top tips

Comb your fingers down the strands of wool to stop them getting tangled. Think of it as untangling the jellyfish tentacles. You can use your finished cord as a friendship braid, keyring or bookmark.

Jenny Sanderson, Badgers Forest School, Bristol

Wild garlic naan bread

What you’ll need

800g leaves of wild garlic, 400g self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 240g full-fat yogurt, 3 tablespoons of butter, a mixing bowl, a rolling pin, a cast-iron skillet or heavy-based frying pan, a campfire.

Instructions

1. Prepare the wild garlic by washing it thoroughly.
2. Blanch the leaves by placing them in boiling water for 20-30 seconds until wilted.
3. Drain the leaves, cool them in cold water, squeeze out the excess moisture, then chop them.
4. In a mixing bowl, combine the self-raising flour and salt. Add the yogurt and two-thirds of the chopped wild garlic. Mix gently to form a dough, adding a splash of water if necessary.
5. Knead briefly until smooth, cover, and let it rest for about an hour.
6. Divide the rested dough into six equal portions. On a floured surface, roll each piece into a teardrop shape, approximately ½ cm thick.
7. Heat a heavy-based frying pan or skillet over your campfire.
8. Cook each naan for 60-90 seconds on one side until bubbles form and the bottom browns.
9. Flip and cook the other side until golden brown.
10. Melt the butter and mix in the remaining chopped wild garlic with a pinch of salt. Brush this mixture over the warm naans before serving.
11. Enjoy!

Top tip

Wild garlic, with its vibrant green leaves and delicate aroma, is a seasonal delight that you can find in woodlands during spring. Always forage responsibly and make sure you are confident when identifying wild garlic.

Francesca Prosser, All Hallows School, Shepton Mallet