Everyone benefits from being in the outdoors, and bushcraft helps us understand nature more and connect to it better. Bushcraft for children is a way to teach them what nature can provide for them, and they bond with nature. They learn life skills through bushcraft, have a lot of fun, and it is also a way for families to spend some quality outdoor time together, preferably getting muddy in the process!
Bushcraft For Children: Activity Ideas
Bushcraft for children can incorporate lots of different activities, but I am going to focus of 6 suggestions:
- Tracking: This bushcraft for children activity teaches them about living things in their local area, as well as then learning about those creatures. You can follow footprints, tufts of fur, feathers, or any other type of clue such as noises. Make sure you use all your senses.
- Foraging: Foraging helps teach children what grows in which seasons, what nature can provide for us in the way of food and nourishment, and what is safe to eat. Make sure you have a resource available to identify what you have picked before you eat it and make sure it is safe to do so! Then go and harvest on your door step.
- Building Shelters: Building a den challenges the little person both mentally and physically. They are using their imagination and creative thinking to come up with a place that will stay standing, and provide a little bit of shelter. You could head into the woods and build a den to have a picnic in and maybe a story too.
- Campfires: When thinking about bushcraft for children, the image most people would conjure up is them enjoying sitting around a campfire. Children can learn a lot from having campfires. All the science behind fire, the safety rules, and also how to cook on it. Above all it is a cosy experience and often one that is a firm outdoor favourite. Check out some of our easy and delicious campfire recipes.
- KellyKettle: This is a lovely piece of outdoor kit that can help children foster a sense of outdoor independence. It is very easy to use and teaches them to make and look after fire on a smaller scale. It also teaches them a method of making hot water for whatever purpose it is required.
- Navigation Skills: There is a lot of technology around to help us navigate these days, but returning back to basics without technology is a vital skill for young people to learn. There are a few methods to use to navigate, but I suggest starting out with the compass and learning the basics and then adding some map skills in with it. There are a lot of fun games you can do learning to use compasses and maps.
You are never to young to do bushcraft on some level, and have fun starting to learn some bushcraft skills. We have a responsibility to our children to help them connect with nature, learn about it, and ultimately want to protect it for the future. Bushcraft for children is one way of doing this.
Comments 16
Great ideas and getting kids exploring is so much fun. Foraging and picking fruit is one of the tastiest things as a kid! Our neighbour’s have a blackberry bush and last summer my youngest had me leaning right over the fence to pick more for her!
Author
Blackberries are a favourite in this house too…so bountiful and easy to do things with as well or just have as a passing snack
Those I still lack some camping skills foraging is something we learnt lots when I was young. These are great activities for families.
Author
we are learning a lot about foraging since we moved here
We love a bit of foraging and building dens too. Kids really do love this stuff and are surprisingly brilliant at it too!
Author
They are and very adaptable to their surroundings
My husband is ex army so he would love to teach my son some outdoor skills. I love the den building and fire ideas.
Author
We are both ex forces but funnily enough I never built many fires! The other outdoor skills we did learn we both feel are so important to them though 🙂
We love walks in the woods and my two year old loves picking up sticks so I think he’d enjoy foraging when he’s a bit older. Making a fire looks like fun too, we’d so sit and toast marshmallows on it!xx
Author
Toasted marshmallows are sooooo yummy x
Great ideas! My girls love to explore and if they can build a den even better.
Author
Thankyou!
I used to love making dens as child, I could play for hours outside using my imagination. I can’t wait for jasmine to enjoy what the outdoors has to offer too! Magnifying glasses are a great item to have!
Author
That sounds like you had a lot of fun! It is so lovely hiding away in a den
What fun ideas here! we love to go camping and I think we could put these into practice on our next trip!
Author
Have fun with them!