ABSTRACT
January is a challenging time of year in the outdoor environment. Both adults and children are more susceptible to the cold and damp conditions and it is likely that well-organised and thought-out sessions will need to be adapted to take into account the weather conditions. This month, the planning looks at developing the children's understanding, skills and awareness of fires and fire lighting. At this point in the year, the new children have already been visiting forest school for a significant amount of time and, for most, the everyday rules and expectations are well embedded. Adding new guidelines about fire safety is crucial and ensuring all children have understood them needs to be monitored closely by all staff. This series of lessons requires the outdoor area to have a safe fire-lighting area. The usual forest school approach to this is to make a small fire area in the centre of some cleared ground.
