Family Outdoor Activities
Module 1: Making a Fire

Have fun with the whole family and learn how to safely make a fire together.
Gather your wood and see who can light it using a fire steel.

Family Outdoor Activities

Module 1: Making a Fire

Two People Making fire

Bring the Family Together to Light a Fire

Fire is at the centre of a family outdoor experience, especially if you can make the time to cook fun recipes together around the fire.

Our videos will give you inspiration and confidence, and fill you with ideas and activities to enjoy together.

We will teach you different methods of fire lighting and guide you through all the stages from setting up your space, gathering your firewood, extinguishing your fire and how to 'leave no trace' when you finish.

What Will You Learn?

  • To safely support responsibility and risk taking. This will increase your child’s confidence and sense of achievement
  • To explore various types of fire making and lighting
  • To safely site, build, light and manage a fire
  • To learn how to safely extinguish of fire with your family or group
  • To encourage environmentally supportive practice

Take a look at some of the activities you’ll learn

Foraging Firewood

The key thing that enables success in fire-making is the preparing, gathering and sorting of resources. The ‘kindling’ – the thinnest wood you gather, needs to be as dry and thin as possible and you often need quite a lot of it!

Fire Making in a Garden

In this video we talk about how you can adapt the activities from our Making a Fire course to a garden or urban setting.

Using Fire Steels

Whilst matches or lighters can be very useful, we love to use first steels in the outdoors. Some of the great benefits of a fire steel is that they can get wet and last a very long time! The rod is made up of ferrocium which includes iron (ferrum) and cerium (rare-earth metal).

Testimonials

The course was great, very simple to use and really informative

The course was great, very simple to use and really informative. The course gives individuals the confidence and clear safety guidelines to equip you to just get outdoors and enjoy nature in a fun and engaging way.

Katie O’ConnellDrama Teacher

Marina inspires me to want to get outdoors and build a fire!

I found the content and videos very accessible, fun to watch and try out, and Marina inspires me to want to get outdoors and build a fire! Easy to follow instructions, with really helpful visual demonstrations that support the written information beautifully, with bite-sized chunks which don’t overwhelm or patronise!

Evalynne CharmerPaediatric & Family Hypnotherapist & Parent

I feel more confident about safely enjoying this activity with my kids.

This course contains lots of helpful advice about safely building, lighting and putting out fires. I particularly enjoyed learning the tips for gathering firewood, and how to put out a fire without a trace. Thanks to the expert guidance, I feel more confident about safely enjoying this activity with my kids.

Amy ShortenParent & Blogger


Curriculum

Welcome to the Making a Fire Online Course 

About the instructor

How can I set up a fire in a more urban space (3:12)

Fire making in an urban space or garden (1:09)

How to forage firewood (4:05)

Get prepared - what do you need in a woodland? (1:40)

Key safety considerations (3:28)

Making a spark - how to use a fire steel (3:18)

Making a fire with cotton wool, a fire steel and a shell (5:17)

Look after your space and leave no trace (9:54)

Gathering Resources: What do we need to think about and the law (1:50)

Where can I buy or find wood for fire making? (4:52)

Downloads

Fire Making Risk and Benefit Assessment

Fire Steels Risk Benefit Assessment

Key Fire Safety Considerations

Guide to Best Wood for Campfires

Guide to Gathering Resources & The Law

What's Included in Module 1?

9 video lessons on making a fire, full of tips, inspiring ideas and essential safety knowledge designed for anyone who wants to learn about fire making including key safety features, sourcing wood and how to light fires using fire steels & cotton wool.

Each module includes a 'Certificate of Completion' issued by The Outdoor Teacher

Plus downloadable resources:

✔️  2 Risk and Benefit Assessments for Fire Making and Fire Steels - read about all the benefits and the ways professional practices keep us safe.

✔️ A 5 page guide about Key Fire Safety Considerations explaining different types of wood, fire set ups, lighting methods and lots more

✔️ Guide to Best Wood for Campfires

✔️ Guide to Gathering Resources & The Law

What will you learn?

✔️ Have fun with the whole family and learn how to safely make a fire together.

✔️ Gather your wood and see who can light it using a fire steel

✔️ Show your children how to gather firewood and safely set up your fire site. Then teach them to light the fire with cotton wool and a fire steel.

The Family Outdoor Activities Course


Are you a parent looking for activities to enjoy as a family in the outdoors? This professional online course has 36 step by step Forest School inspired video lessons that mix fun and games with crafting and skills.

Single modules are £37 +vat or save £21 and get the 4 module bundle for £127 +vat

Whom you learn from matters

I'm Marina Robb

I'm the Founder and Managing Director of Circle of Life Rediscovery Community Interest Company and The Outdoor Teacher Ltd, and a qualified teacher with over 30 years experience in outdoor learning and nature connection, and a leading Forest School endorsed trainer and practitioner. I'm a national expert in nature based education and therapeutic interventions and my aim is to share my knowledge and experience with teachers and others wishing to work outside the classroom. I've pioneered nature programmes within the health sector for my work with teenagers, families and young people with mental health issues, disabilities, dementia and early psychosis.  

I'm the co-author of ‘Learning with Nature’ a must-have book for Forest School & Outdoor practitioners, and ‘The Essential Guide to Forest School and Nature Pedagogy’ which contains everything you need to know from theory to practice.

I'm also the host of The Wild Minds Podcast.

money back

14 day Guarantee

Risk free

14 Days Money Back Guarantee

If you are not happy with the course, you can contact us with an explanation and claim a full refund within 14 days.

laptops and tablets

Know that your course is available on all devices

The Family Outdoor Activities Course is mobile friendly and available on all devices.

If you have an iPhone, you can download the 'Teachable' app from the Apple Store and download the videos onto your phone.

FAQ

When does the course start?

If you are paying in full, you will get access to all 8 modules and all bonus materials as soon as your purchase is complete.

How long do I have access to the course?

You will have lifetime access to the course! Unlimited access to the lessons and videos for as long as you like, across all your devices.

Is my tutor qualified?

Yes, Marina Robb is an author and UK Forest School Association Endorsed Trainer and has been training Forest School Leaders since 2011. She has been working with groups in nature since 1995 and you can read more here.

Our organisation can’t pay using a credit or debit card – can we still buy the course?

Yes, we understand that many schools and other organisations can’t pay by card – contact us and we can send you an invoice to pay us by bank transfer in UK Sterling, Euros or Dollars. We can also accept cheques from UK bank accounts.

Can I access the course on my mobile?

Yes, the course can be accessed on all devices. If you have an iPhone, you can also download the free ‘Teachable’ app from the Apple Store and complete the course using the app, downloading any videos you like onto your device.

What if I am unhappy with the course?

If for some reason you are not happy with the course, contact us in writing within your first 14 days for a full refund. You will need to include an explanation of why you want the refund.

Does this course qualify me to run Forest School sessions?

This course is not a qualification but is Certified by The Outdoor Teacher and based on Marina's experience and expertise in this field.
All practitioners in the UK need to follow health and safety law, which requires us to provide risk assessments and be competent to deliver activities. Teachers for example are already qualified already to take their practice outdoors but are likely to need a course like ours to get the practical skills in place.
The Level 3 Forest School training and Forest School programmes (long term) are an educational approach and the training is excellent. If you intend to offer long-term forest school programmes, then I would recommend you doing the qualification.
We have a page about Outdoor Learning Myths and a recent webinar where these issues are addressed:
https://theoutdoorteacher.com/blog/outdoor-learning-myths

How is this course different from the Level 3 Training?

This training resource does not give you a formal qualification in Forest School Leadership.

It has been designed at the same standard and beyond as a Level 3, by Marina Robb, an endorsed Forest School Association Trainer with 30 years experience. The course aims to enable and equip people with the practical delivery of Forest School-based activities to a high competency, with all the correct health and safety and pedagogy weaved through the course.  

There is no requirement to have a Forest School Qualification to take children out of doors to learn and play. As a teacher or practitioner, you are legally obliged to have risk assessments in place and insurance relevant to practice offered.

How many hours is the course?

This is a self-paced course so you work in your own time from pre-recorded materials and videos with 2 additional live webinars. The course is organised into the seasons so designed to be worked though over the calendar year.
We estimate that it will take a minimum of 36 hours to complete the course but you will also need to factor in time to practice the activities on top of this. 

We don't have access to a woodland - can we do these activities in a playground or park?

Yes, you can. Whether you are near a woodland, park or school playground - all the activities can be adapted for different circumstances.

We have run activities using fire, tools, games, wild food, crafts, swings & ropes, shelters in school yards and playgrounds.

It does take more preparation and consideration of equipment. If you wanted to make fires, you would either designate a small green area of the playground for this purpose or use a fire bowl to lift the fire off the ground. We have also taken many groups on short walks throughout the seasons to gather some plants for many activities.

Posts can be put up to replace trees, so that children can still set up various rope bridges or constructions and with a little thinking you can easily set up a rope swing and tarpaulin shelters.

In schools we often ask parents to contribute a log for our wood pile and ask for help to bring in useful materials we may need over the year.

Can I share my course with my colleagues?

No - the license is granted for 1 user to view the contents of the course. This access must not be shared with any other person and only the named user will receive the certificate.

See next question for bulk licencing queries.

Can we purchase multiple licenses for our staff team?

Yes, please contact us for bulk purchasing discounts. We can set up the user accounts for you and send you access codes and you can pay by invoice

Do I get a certificate?

Yes, all our courses come with a ‘Certificate of Completion’ from The Outdoor Teacher Ltd.

How can we contact you if we have a question?

Yes feel free to call or email us with any questions - our contact details are on the contact page.

Our commitment to Nature & People:

The Outdoor Teacher, alongside its sister organization Circle of Life Rediscovery CIC aim to transform health, education and family through nature.

We are whole-heartedly concerned about the safeguarding of future generations, human and non-human alike, and the growing understanding of reciprocity between humans and nature. Whilst we are advocates for all people accessing nature and its benefits, we know that this is only healthy if we prioritise the care for the natural world and address issues of equality.

The Outdoor Teacher is working towards becoming a certified B-Corp. Certified B Corps are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. We aim to be part of this community of leaders, driving a global movement of people using businesses as a force for good.

We are using Monzo Business Banking which is listed as an ethical bank: https://monzo.com/ethics.

Featured Courses