Recorded round a picnic bench at the Wilderness Gathering (West Knoyle, Dorset). Lewis, Gemma, Adrian, Kay and Dave talk about staffing the Forest School Association (FSA) stand, county gatherings and the value of swapping ideas face-to-face.

• Why the FSA Southwest team came to the festival – pointing visitors to local settings, sharing good practice, recruiting new members
• Gatherings as “mini-conferences”: kit hacks, toilets, kitchen shelters, branding, social media dos & don’ts – and moral support for lone practitioners
• Isolation versus community – teaching background, moving from formal education into Forest School, worries about being “new” and imposter syndrome
• Geography challenge: Devon, Dorset, Somerset & Cornwall are huge; travel is tough but the benefit of meeting multiple leaders at once outweighs the mileage
• Skill-sharing examples: running sessions with one rucksack of kit, using ball of string + knife only; compost loos that started life as log-stores; creating all-weather kitchen roofs
• Tick-box “Forest School” vs full-fat, long-term immersion – minimum 12-week programmes, why principles matter, and how children themselves spot token projects
• The name game – Holly & Hawthorn, Children of the Forest, SM Forest School… and accidental “franchises” when others reuse your brand
• Open-door mentoring: inviting trainees in, fears of local competition, benefits of seeing several sites, how to keep impact low and structures removable
• Could the SW model scale nationally? Moving the bar gradually; idea for online drop-in (Twitch / Skype) chat nights for leaders across the UK & abroad
• Shout-outs: - Holly & Hawthorn Forest School (Shepton Mallet)
     - Coastal Forest Education (Dorset – now offering Level 3 training at the Sustainability Centre, Oct start)

Take-away
Regular regional meet-ups (plus a supportive online space) beat isolation, improve practice and give a united voice when you need to challenge “worksheet in the woods” programmes.

Get involved / share your ideas
Run a county gathering? Want to trial a monthly online drop-in? Email the show and tell us how you keep your tribe connected.

Contact / links
Email: admin@theforestschoolpodcast
Web: theforestschoolpodcast.com
Support & extras: patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast

Gemma and Lewis record in the dark by the camp-fire during a family camping sleep-over. It’s 9:50 pm, owls are calling and they’re a bit overtired – so expect extra waffle and late-night tangents.

• Rain relief – finally breaks a three-week dry spell; both admit jumpers are Britain’s national security blanket
• A huge sweet-chestnut limb dropped after drought; quick reminder about “summer branch drop” in oak/chestnut as well as beech
• Setting up their first moth lamp and reminiscing about the perfect buff-tip moth that once fooled everyone as a snapped birch twig
• Night-time bird chat: tawny owls, chiff-chaffs, little owls, robin midnight song, nightjars, mute-swan hisses, Seagulls glowing white on rooftops, pheasants and the hot-pennies festival, aggressive swans and chicken nappies
• Walking in total darkness – how woodland navigation forces mindfulness; why torches are so tempting for children and how to structure multi-night dusk sessions
• Meteors! The Perseid shower peaks 11-13 Aug (best around 02:00 after moon-set) – plan a night watch if skies are clear
• Nocturnal wildlife: why badgers, hedgehogs and bats remain abstract for many children; how perseverance and silence are rarely rewarded in an age of instant gratification
• Bird-feeding ethics – is it genuine care or a desire to see creatures up close? the pigeon vs. songbird dilemma
• Nightjar surveying: ideal habitat is recently felled conifer plantation; they “churr” and clap wings overhead
• Street-lights that switch off after 23:00 give surprise star-watching spots
• Dusk/after-school Forest School – challenges of tides for Beach School, shifting sunset times, leaving gear out in the dark
• Final moment of stillness – the woods fall silent; Gemma and Lewis creep off to check the moth sheet

Feedback / ideas
Run dusk or night sessions? Do a regular meteor watch? Tried a moth lamp? Let them know what works (and what doesn’t).

Contact / links
Email: admin@theforestschoolpodcast
Web: theforestschoolpodcast.com
Support & extras: patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast

Gemma and Lewis open in classic British style – celebrating the first proper rain in almost three weeks and admitting national jumper-anxiety. While thunder rolls in the background they:

• compare iPhone “floors climbed” stats
• share a long digression about government tracking, MI5 recruitment myths and targeted phone ads
• recount a huge sweet-chestnut limb that dropped on site after the recent drought, reminding everyone about “summer branch drop” (not just beeches – chestnut and oak too)
• play a six-bird quiz using the Birdsong – 150 British & Irish Birds button-book:
 1 Raven 2 Jay 3 Lesser spotted woodpecker 4 Great tit 5 Goldcrest 6 Wren
  + bonus curve-ball: the “mute” swan’s hiss
• chat about pheasants, aggressive swans, chicken nappies and Honiton’s “Hot Pennies” festival
• talk listening skills: how constant outdoor work tunes you in to any unexpected call in the canopy

Main discussion – a quick summer reading list

Lewis’ picks
– The Science of Storytelling – Will Storr
– Flow – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
– Weapons of Mass Instruction – John Taylor Gatto
– Mythos / Heroes – Stephen Fry (audio versions recommended)

Gemma’s picks
– Wonderland: A Year of Britain’s Wildlife – Brett Westwood & Stephen Moss
– The Salt Path – Raynor Winn
– No Brainer – Ruby Wax (audio)
– The Hidden Life of Trees – Peter Wohlleben
– The Inner Life of Animals – Peter Wohlleben

Forthcoming titles they’re excited about
– Critical Issues in Forest Schools – ed. Mark Sackville-Ford & Helen Davenport (Aug release)
– The Play Cycle: Theory, Research and Application – Gordon Sturrock & Pete King (new edition)

Training reminder
Four in-person courses for 2025-26 now open – Outdoor Cookery, Storytelling/Music/Drama, Intro to Whittling, and an EY/KS1 activity day. Full details at theforestschoolpodcast.com.

Listener request
Send your own must-read outdoor or education books (or even ones that totally disagree with Lewis & Gemma) to admin@theforestschoolpodcast or via Patreon: patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast.

Gemma brings the Birdsong button-book and Lewis plays “name-that-tweet.” From ravens’ office gossip to goldcrests in conifers, we derail into MI6 recruitment, chicken nappies and phone-based surveillance – but somehow loop back to purposeful listening outdoors.

• 🚗 Apple “steps & floors” chat, blocked noses and elevation paranoia

• 🕵️‍♂️ Lewis’ totally-real MI5 recruitment story (“Do I have to kill people?” – “Yes.”)

• 💸 Tech eavesdropping: teeth-whitening ads & sperm-donor pop-ups

• 🎤 BIRD QUIZ:

  • Raven (social geniuses, imitate speech)

  • Jay (egg-thief, acorn forester)

  • Wood warbler (roots-nest, African migrant)

  • Great tit (“teacher-teacher!”)

  • Goldcrest (smallest UK bird, squeaky bike)

  • Wren (loudest tiny shouter)

• 🌳 Why birds make such good “gateway wildlife” for kids

• 🐔 Honiton “Hot Pennies,” chicken sacrifices & indoor-hen nappies (!?)

• 🔊 Active listening outdoors – and why Gemma abruptly stops mid-sentence when a bird calls

• 📚 Book used: Birdsong – 150 British & Irish Birds and Their Amazing Sounds (Jonathan Elphick & Lars Svensson) – now hard to find, so scour eBay/charity shops

00:00 – iPhone step-count rabbit hole
09:50 – MI6 recruitment & tracking paranoia
15:00 – Bird-quiz round 1: Raven, Jay
23:40 – Bird-quiz round 2: Wood warbler, Great tit
28:45 – Bird-quiz round 3: Goldcrest, Wren
35:00 – Why birds are the safe wildlife to notice
38:00 – Indoor hens, nappies & sacrificial chickens
42:00 – Courses plug & wrap-up

Birdsong · Ravens · Jays · Great Tit · Goldcrest · Wren · Active Listening · Outdoor CPD · Tech Surveillance

#ForestSchoolPodcast #BirdQuiz #OutdoorLearning #ListenUp #CPD

How many birds did you name? Drop us a voice-note or email [email protected] and tell us your score (and favourite bird fact).

Lewis & Gemma spiral into a midsummer head-cold haze and ask, “What actually makes a good rite of passage?” From hot pennies hurled at peasants to Year-6 mortarboards, nothing is safe.

• 🤧 Lewis can’t remember life with two nostrils; Gemma’s hen snores on the stairs

• 🌓 Solstice rituals, Charlotte Church’s democratic-school idea & smashing down the bit you built

• 🎓 Primary-school “graduations” in robes – why? And why the two of us skipped our uni ceremonies

• ⚒️ Ceremony vs. genuine rite-of-passage (and when rewards wreck intrinsic motivation)

• 🐚 Artefacts that work – tickets, twigs, rope from a den, tiny memories you can hold

• 🔥 Scout badges, “wild passport” challenges & the problem of clapping the billhook users

• 💸 Honiton Hot Pennies festival: mediaeval “mock-the-poor” day still closing Devon roads

• 🎉 Do rites need to be enjoyable? First car crashes, doctors’ first patient death & driver’s licences

• 📅 Upcoming CPD days: storytelling/drama/music (Sept 1), outdoor cookery, whittling & more

00:00 – Nasal misery & hen-house bedtime
06:00 – Solstice chat & Charlotte Church’s build/smash classroom plan
11:00 – Tiny graduations, big discomfort
18:00 – Tickets, twigs & meaningful take-aways
24:00 – Ceremony ≠ rite of passage: Happy-Birthday paralysis, mortarboards, Scout badges
31:00 – Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation (and Alfie Kohn pops up again)
38:30 – Honiton Hot-Pennies history lesson
46:00 – Wrapping up + new CPD calendar

Rites of Passage · Ceremony · Outdoor Learning · Intrinsic Motivation · Artefacts · Scout Badges · Solstice · Hot Pennies · CPD

#ForestSchoolPodcast #RiteOfPassage #OutdoorLearning #CeremonyVsProcess #HotPennies

What’s the oddest or most meaningful rite-of-passage you’ve witnessed? Drop us a voice-note or email [email protected] and we’ll play a few next episode.

Lewis & Gemma welcome Tracy MacIver – Forest-School trainer, perennial swearer, and author of three (almost four!) beloved activity handbooks. Between squirrel-raids on the mud-kitchen and tales of backpack knives, the trio wanders through:

• 📚 How Tracy’s first book began as a photocopied “activity diary” for one anxious colleague

• 🪄 Handbag-survival hen parties (tampons = perfect fire-lighters)

• 🤦‍♂️ Adults: the real liability at whittling sessions (“I know how to use a knife… stab”)

• 🌳 Meeting reluctant teachers where they are – and why “any outdoor lesson is better than none”

• 🏫 The curse of 24-hour news & the shrinking childhood roam-range

• ✂️ Self-publishing vs. big publishers (and how a £400 Bloomsbury advance bought one takeaway)

• 🐊 “It’s the crocodile lady!” – early-years kids, MFL in the woods & a bus-ticket whistle game

• 🔥 Why Tracy confiscates all whistles and how she handles camp-chair teachers

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 – Laminated book pages & Kindle confusion
03:00 – Tracy’s path: from nanny ➜ early-years teacher ➜ Forest-School trainer
08:00 – The birth of Forest School Plymouth & training the very first cohorts
12:30 – Writing the first handbook for colleague Miranda (and why pages have blank “note” space)
15:00 – Swearing, Bear Grylls & lesson-plan bonfires
18:30 – Guardian article: “Is Forest School just marketing?” (lively rebuttal!)
23:00 – Why every child should be outside (even if it’s just the football field)
28:00 – Coaches, confidence & meeting adults’ comfort-zones
32:00 – Tracy’s favourite accidental impact stories (hearing-impairment unit & gifted-and-talented kids)
37:00 – Tool book, early-years book, and the next collection (when it’s ready)
40:00 – Hen parties, heart-surgery dads & woodland cake sessions
46:00 – Confession: Tracy’s only major accident = a teacher stabbing his own knee
50:00 – Head-teachers, funding & the power of “Take 12” outdoor lessons
55:00 – Squirrel crashes the mud-kitchen; Louis ponders lesson-plan ashes
57:00 – Why Tracy bans whistles (and what she does instead)
60:00 – Wrapping up: buying direct, future projects, and grand-baby impatience

🔑 Keywords: Forest School · outdoor learning · tool use · adult training · self-publishing · lesson plans · reluctant teachers · meet-them-where-they-are · Playwork · whittling safety

🏷️ Hashtags:
#ForestSchoolPodcast #TracyMacIver #OutdoorLearning #WhittlingFails #HandbagSurvival #PlayBasedTraining #Take12Lessons #MeetThemWhereTheyAre

➡️ Resources & Links
• Tracy’s books & direct orders (support the author!): forestschoolandoutdoorlearning.co.uk
• Guardian article discussed: “Is Forest School Just a Marketing Gimmick?” (June 2025)
• Our past chat with Richard Irvine (whittling guru) – search episode archive

☕ Support & connect
Enjoying the pod? Buy us a coffee (or elderflower fizz) at patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast — perks include Discord chat & bonus mini-episodes.

👂🏽 We want to hear from you: What’s the worst adult mishap you’ve seen in the woods? Tell us on socials or send an email to [email protected].

It’s Solstice time—or as Lewis and Gemma imagine it, post-apocalyptic bunker-time, when all that remains is a crumbling podcast archive passed through generations. In this reflective, meandering, and slightly pollen-fogged episode, your hosts explore adult learning at Forest School, the strange self-consciousness of grown-ups in the woods, and what it means to meet parents, trainees, and professionals exactly where they are. They dive into:

• 🍃 Mud, mess & Range Rover parents

• ☕ Slugs as self-care and play for grown-ups

• 📚 Theory vs. vibes in adult training

• 🔥 When adults are just big kids (with hayfever)

• 🧺 Baskets, whittling & the joy of learning for its own sake

• 🕒 Plus: a curious thought experiment—what would you do with 3 free hours on a Saturday?

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 – Solstice silliness, apocalypse greetings & bunker broadcasts
01:15 – Pagan craft fails & the elderflower/cordial debate
03:00 – Hayfever gripes, rain relief, and a falling tree
06:00 – Cancelled sessions & documenting danger for parents
06:50 – CPD for nurseries & outdoor training as propaganda
08:15 – Somerset Play Forum recap: storytelling, theories & lightbulb moments
10:30 – Adults as learners—how it differs from working with kids
13:00 – Self-consciousness, social norms & reframing activities
15:00 – Immediate verbal feedback & how to read a room
17:00 – Learner-led = different outcomes for different groups
19:20 – The power of flexibility in adult education
22:00 – Adults-only Forest School? (Cooking, yes. Whittling, maybe.)
24:00 – “Meeting people where they are”—even if they hate mud
26:00 – Grown-ups need play too: explicitly inviting them in
29:00 – Toddler groups as community spaces for adults
30:00 – Conversations that matter more than PowerPoint slides
31:00 – Forest School for adults isn’t just for emergencies
32:00 – What would you do with three free hours on a Saturday?

🔑 Keywords: adult learning · outdoor CPD · Forest School training · play for grown-ups · meeting people where they are · whittling · storytelling · self-consciousness · theory in practice · community spaces

🏷️ Hashtags:
#ForestSchoolPodcast #AdultLearning #OutdoorCPD #PlayBasedLearning #GrownUpsNeedPlayToo #LearnerLed #WhittlingJoy #StorytellingWorkshop

➡️ Resources & Support:
▶️ More episodes & show notes: www.theforestschoolpodcast.com
☕ Support the podcast or join our Discord: patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast
✉️ Drop us a line: [email protected]

👂🏽 Your turn: What would you do with three bonus hours on a Saturday? Tell us via DM, email, or wherever you find us.

In this rain-tapping, fireside-style episode of The Forest School Podcast, Lewis and Gemma explore the unexpected side effects of being a Forest School practitioner. Born from a moment of atmospheric pressure-drop telepathy, this conversation drifts through proprioception, weather instincts, sensitivity to group energy, and the profound (and often hilarious) personal changes that unfold after years of working outdoors with children.

From dodging skinny trousers in favour of squatting-friendly kit, to developing slug-on-head bravery and nettle-eating confidence, the pair share how the job rewires your senses, reshapes your social filters, and alters your wardrobe, immune system, and relationship with food. They unpack the “spidey senses” of vibe-checking group dynamics, balancing limits with intuition, and why truly knowing a child goes far beyond levels and curriculum. With side quests into tattoos, wildflower road rage, Wim Hof, and buried ferrets, this episode is an invitation to reflect on how you have changed since spending more time in the woods.

⏱ Chapter Timings:
00:15 – White noise, walnut gifts & dropping off to our voices
01:00 – Coyote Guide & mind-mapping woodland flora
02:00 – Whistles, ferns & observer bias
03:30 – Side effects of outdoor work: a practitioner’s body barometer
04:30 – Pressure-drop awareness & animal instincts
06:15 – Wind obsession & becoming a human weather app
07:00 – Childcare senses: vibe-checking & tension awareness
08:30 – High-energy days & predictive planning
09:50 – Intuition vs logic when setting boundaries
11:10 – Group dynamics & listening to “something’s off”
12:30 – Smiling less: reading the internal play state
13:30 – When stomping doesn’t mean sulking
14:05 – Appearances: picking up your child while looking like “a player”
15:30 – Functional fashion & outdoor uniforms
17:15 – Skinny trousers & the anti-squat epidemic
18:10 – Balancing beards, tattoos & approachability
19:30 – Scared of parents: overcoming adult anxiety
20:40 – Speaking to groups & growing confident CPD voices
21:55 – Phone phobia & generation-specific stress
22:15 – Dietary changes & eating like a guide
22:45 – From slug phobia to slug headwear
23:45 – Grasping nettles, literally & metaphorically
24:20 – Global awareness & feeling slightly "other"
25:00 – Five-square-mile richness & noticing locally
26:00 – Lewis’ Dorset grandad & buried guns (tangent alert!)
27:30 – Dead ferrets & local eccentricity
28:15 – Wildflower road rage & hedge-bank overload
29:00 – Deep knowledge of individuals beyond school stats
30:15 – Seeing children fully vs curriculum caricatures
31:45 – Being a person, not a curriculum machine
32:15 – Repetitive anti-school trauma bonding at gatherings
33:00 – Lighthouse not lifeboat: modelling, not fixing
34:00 – Forest School & immune system upgrades
35:00 – Embodied awareness: tired muscles, terrain memory
36:00 – Wim Hof, breathwork & reptilian brain talk
37:00 – Starving at 4pm: feast, famine & flapjack reflexes
38:10 – Upcoming: Forest School CPD and outdoor cooking day
39:50 – Rocket stoves, pizza ovens & gendered workshops
39:56 – Goodbye & rain-fuelled ramblings

🌲 Keywords: Forest School side effects, practitioner intuition, child-led limits, weather instincts, group energy, woodland fashion, outdoor eating, proprioception, immune system, feral anecdotes, forest school community

🔖 Hashtags:
#ForestSchool #ChildLedLearning #ReflectivePractice #NatureBasedLearning #ForestSchoolPodcast #OutdoorEducator #WeatherSense #WoodlandWardrobe #ImmuneBoostingPlay #CPD #ForestSchoolTraining #GroupDynamics #SlugOnHead #SpideySenseTeaching

🌐 More Episodes & Support:
▶️ Browse more & get extras: www.theforestschoolpodcast.com
☕ Back the pod & join our Discord: www.patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast
📬 Say hi or collab with us: [email protected]

Lewis and Gemma drift on a gentle breeze into the world of dens—from childhood hidey-holes to Forest School fortresses. They spin together memory-stories (hedgerow hideaways, Aladdin-cave fireguards, war-ready clay-ammo dens in building-site dumps), debate what materials make “better” dens (natural sticks vs. tarps, pallets, top-holes), and wrestle with the real play-worker dilemma of permanence vs. pack-up: when to preserve a child’s long-term build and when to clear it away. Along the way you’ll hear:

• Bumblebee genomics & colonial hierarchy (!)

• Why “a den” is more than four sticks in the ground

• Tarps, palettes, sari-drapes and why “ugly” junk sparks the richest play

• How dens naturally trigger conflict, compromise & co-creation

• Norway’s cheeky experiment: paying kids to build dens

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 – Bumblebee biology sidetrack
01:30 – Opening memories: hedgerow cubbies & indoor “Aladdin’s cave”
03:30 – Building-site meerkat dens, clay ball ammo & black-lawn wars
06:00 – Den-building “tools”: sticks, string, tarps, pallets (and dumpster finds!)
09:00 – When adults cringe at “shanty” vs. children dive in
10:15 – Transparent net-roof den: safety + 360° predator watch
11:30 – Resources shape styles: survival shelters vs. place-based builds
13:00 – The sweet spot of semi-permanent treehouses vs. swept-away forts
15:00 – Conflict, exclusion & negotiation in child-led dens
17:00 – Norway pays kids to build dens—reward vs. intrinsic motivation?
18:30 – Squirrel cameo: flapjack theft and den cleanup calls ¶

🔑 Keywords: den-building · improvised shelters · child-led play · conflict resolution · natural materials · tarps & pallets · semi-permanent play spaces · Forest School techniques · intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation

🏷️ Hashtags:
#DenBuilding #ForestSchool #ChildLedPlay #PlayBasedLearning #NatureShelters #ImprovisedPlay #UnstructuredPlay #ForestSchoolPodcast

➡️ Resources & Support:
▶️ More episodes & show notes: www.theforestschoolpodcast.com
☕ Buy us a coffee or join our Discord community: patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast
✉️ Feedback & collabs: [email protected]

In this energetic, hands-on episode Lewis and Gemma explore the magic of springboard activities—those simple setups that spark hours of play, learning and wonder. After nibbling Romanian walnuts and defining “springboard” with a nod to Lily Kindling’s session-plan template, they share their top examples: from fluttering paper swallows to a tangled rope labyrinth, Sally Secret’s hidden den, collaborative Stone Soup, Hansel & Gretel chalk art and enchanted gnome-hunt walks. Expect tales of clay creatures born from Earth, monkey-Butler improv, puppet birds chasing sunlight, elfin invitations and more ways to ignite a child-led adventure.

⏱ Chapter Timings:
00:19 – Walnut gifts & session open-circle tradition
01:16 – What is a “springboard”? (Lily Kindling’s template)
03:00 – Paper-swallow puppets: migrate, decorate, take flight
04:47 – Tangle-rope “unfinished” labyrinth: collective building challenge
07:24 – Sally Secret story → pop-up dens that beg adult invitations
09:06 – Stone Soup storytelling → shared soup-making & imaginative cooking
12:53 – Hansel & Gretel chalk-door springboard → instant mini den play
14:10 – Gnome/elf trail: story-led nature walks & object hunts
16:17 – Wrap-up & kids’ own springboard mash-ups

🌲 Keywords: springboard activities, child-led play, paper puppets, rope dens, storytelling, nature connection, collaborative cooking, chalk art, forest school techniques

🔖 Hashtags:
#SpringboardPlay #ForestSchool #ChildLedLearning #Storytelling #HandsOnLearning #NaturePlay #DenBuilding #ImaginativePlay #PlayBasedLearning #ForestSchoolPodcast

🌐 More Episodes & Support:
Listen & find resources at www.theforestschoolpodcast.com
Support us at www.patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast
Feedback or collab? [email protected]