Boots & Brambles Forest School

🌞 HOLD UP… WHO DECIDED SUMMER IS OVER?! 😂

I keep seeing everyone talking about the end of summer already… 👀🍂

Well, just for the record, I’m following the astronomical calendar around here. 😌✨
Which means summer doesn’t officially end until 23rd September, when the Autumn Equinox arrives. 🌍☀️🍁

So while everyone else is getting their pumpkins, cosy jumpers and “hello autumn” posts ready… 🎃🧣🍂

I’ll be over here like:
“SUMMER IS STILL IN SESSION, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.” 😎🌞🍹
There’s still time for BBQs, sunny days, ice creams and summer fun. 😂

So I’m officially refusing to say goodbye to summer just yet. 🙅‍♀️☀️

Team 23rd September — who’s with me? 👇😂🌞

🍂🌳 🍄 FOREST SCHOOL IS BACK! 🌳🍂

Get ready for a season of muddy adventures, woodland fun and seasonal magic! ✨

Our new monthly Forest School sessions are packed with nature-based activities, creative crafts and plenty of time to explore, play and get wonderfully messy! 🌿🎨

Each month brings a brand-new seasonal theme:

🍁 OCTOBER – Autumn in the Woods
Explore the changing woodland, discover autumn treasures and get creative with nature-inspired crafts! 🍂🍄 Monday 5th October 10-11.30

🔥 NOVEMBER – Bonfire Bonanza
A fiery celebration packed with seasonal fun, woodland activities and creative making! 🔥🌰 Monday 2nd November 10-11.30

🎄 DECEMBER – Festive Fun
Bring on the Christmas magic with festive nature crafts, woodland adventures and plenty of festive fun! ✨ Monday 7th December 10-11.30

And every session will include our Forest School favourites…
🌳 Woodland play
🎨 Nature-based crafts & activities
🍳 Mud kitchen adventures
🫧 GIANT BUBBLES!
🐾 Lots of exploring, imagination and outdoor fun

Perfect for little adventurers and their grown-ups who love getting stuck in, getting muddy and connecting with nature! 🌿💚

📅 Monthly sessions | Seasonal themes | Outdoor adventures

Spaces are limited, so don’t miss out! 🌲✨

Come and have some muddy fun in the woods! 🥾🍂

📍 St Peter's Church Centre Woodland, Tollerton Lane, Tollerton, NG12 4FT

Book your place via our website 💻

🌿✨ Process over product. Freedom over perfection. Play over “getting it right”. ✨🌿

This week at Boots and Brambles Forest School, we’ve been celebrating the beautiful freedom that comes when children are given the space to explore, experiment, create and PLAY. 🌳🍂🎨

In our family sessions, we’ve been exploring art in nature, using natural treasures to make prints and patterns. 🌿🪵🍃

And during our Stone Age Survivors Holiday Clubs, we took things even further — exploring mark making and creating our own colours and dyes from nature. 🪨🌸🫐🌱

But the magic wasn’t in the finished creations…
✨ It was in the process.
It was children selecting natural materials, wondering “What will happen if…?” 🤔
Mixing, mashing, stirring and experimenting. 🥣🌿
Inventing their own ways to filter natural materials.
Combining colours. 🎨
Making patterns.
Changing their minds.
Trying again.
Getting messy.
Discovering something unexpected.
And simply enjoying the experience. 💚
There was no “right” way. No perfect end product. No pressure to make something that looked a certain way.
And what we saw was beautiful. 🌈
Because there’s so much focus nowadays on getting things right, following instructions, copying an example and producing something that looks “good”.
But children need freedom too.
🌱 Freedom to wonder.
🌱 Freedom to make mistakes.
🌱 Freedom to experiment.
🌱 Freedom to follow their own ideas.
🌱 Freedom to play without a purpose.
🌱 Freedom to create without worrying about the end result.
Sometimes the most valuable thing we can create isn’t something we can take home…
It’s curiosity, confidence, creativity, resilience and a love of exploring the world around us. 🌍💚
So here’s to muddy hands, unexpected colours, wonky patterns, curious minds and the joy of process over product. 🍂🎨🌿
Because when children are given the freedom to play, magic happens. ✨

🌿🪵 STONE AGE SURVIVORS ✔️ 🪵🌿
Well… that’s a wrap on our Boots & Brambles Forest School Holiday Clubs for Summer 2026! ☀️🌳

What an incredible three weeks we’ve had in the woods with some fantastic children! 🥰 We’ve got muddy, tried new things, and, most importantly, had an absolute blast! 🙌

We kicked things off with our Bushcraft & Wildcraft Warriors Clubs 🪓🌿 and rounded off the summer with TWO awesome Stone Age Survivors sessions! 🏕️🔥

Our Stone Age adventurers have:
🪵 Built their very own Stone Age shelters
🪓 Used tools to make Stone Age weapons & tools
🫐 Foraged for berries
🐾 Hunted for signs of animals
🎨 Created natural dyes & Stone Age art
🌳 Swung in hammocks & climbed trees
🫧 Chased giant bubbles
😂 Laughed, played & made new friends!
And, of course, we’ve sent everyone home with messy hair, blackberry-stained faces, grubby hands and huge smiles! 😆🫐🖐️

It’s been an absolute BLAST! 💚

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has joined us for our Holiday Clubs and Family Sessions this summer. Your support means the world to us! 🥰

But don’t worry… we’ll be back! 👀🎃
Our Halloween Half Term Sessions & Clubs are now OPEN FOR BOOKING! 🕷️🍂

🎃 Monday 26th October Halloween Family Session 10.30-12 🧙‍♀️
🎃 Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th October- Halloween Holiday Clubs (including pumpkin carving!) 10-3 🧙‍♀️

Booking now open via our website

We can’t wait to get back in the woods for some Halloween adventures with you all! 🌳💚

🌿🍓 Channelling a Bramley Hedge, Oakapple Wood kind of summer… 🍓🌿

The kind of summer where the days aren’t packed with plans, activities and endless entertainment…

They’re filled with little adventures. 🐞🌼
Paddling in streams 💦
Pond dipping 🐸
Collecting stones and shells 🪨
Picking berries 🍓🫐
Making art out of nature 🌿🎨
Climbing trees 🌳
Building dens 🪵
Swimming in lakes 🏊‍♀️
Watching butterflies 🦋
Lying in the grass and cloud watching ☁️
Coming home muddy, barefoot and tired from a day spent outside. 🌱🤎

✨ The simple things really are the best.
Children don't need every minute filled with organised entertainment. They need time. Time to wander, explore, get curious, make things, get muddy, use their imagination and simply be. 🌿

Maybe childhood doesn't need to be bigger, busier or more exciting…

Maybe it just needs to be slower, simpler and a little more wild. 🤎🌿

Here’s to long summer days, muddy knees, wild imaginations and the magic of the ordinary. ☀️🧺🌼

Wildcraft Warriors have been having an EPIC time! 🪵🪶🌳

We’ve had a fantastic couple of days here at Boots & Brambles Forest School for our Wildcraft Warriors Holiday Clubs🌟at Boots & Brambles Forest School

And WOW… the woods have definitely been the BEST place to be in this heat! 🌳☀️🌿

Our Wildcraft Warriors have been:
🔎 Hunting through the woods for natural resources
🪙 Trading their finds in our woodland market
🏕️ Building dens… then putting them to the ultimate waterproofness test! 💦😂
🪚 Using tools to create their own amazing inventions — from swords & spears ⚔️ to WORKING PENCILS! ✏️🤯
🪵 Setting up their own Trading Posts to trade woodland items!
🌿 Chilling out in hammocks
🫧 Making giant bubbles
🍦 Enjoying ice pops under the cool woodland canopy

There’s been plenty of creativity, adventure, teamwork, problem-solving and, of course, lots of fun! 💚🌳🙌

A HUGE thank you to everyone who joined us this week — you’ve made it such a brilliant few days! 🥰💚

And the adventures aren’t over yet… 👀🔥
🏹 Stone Age Survivors Holiday Clubs
📅 Tuesday 18th & Wednesday 19th August
⏰ 10am–3pm

We’ll soon be releasing our October Half Term Holiday Sessions too… 👀🍂🍁
Watch this space! 🌳✨

🌿🔥 Wildcraft Warriors have been having an EPIC time! 🪵🪶🌳

We’ve had a fantastic couple of days here at Boots & Brambles Forest School for our Wildcraft Warriors Holiday Clubs! 🏕️✨Fran Groombridge

And WOW… the woods have definitely been the BEST place to be in this heat! 🌳☀️🌿

Our Wildcraft Warriors have been:
🔎 Hunting through the woods for natural resources
🪙 Trading their finds in our woodland market
🏕️ Building dens… then putting them to the ultimate waterproofness test! 💦😂
🪚 Using tools to create their own amazing inventions — from swords & spears ⚔️ to WORKING PENCILS! ✏️🤯
🪵 Setting up their own Trading Posts to trade woodland items!
🌿 Chilling out in hammocks
🫧 Making giant bubbles
🍦 Enjoying ice pops under the cool woodland canopy

There’s been plenty of creativity, adventure, teamwork, problem-solving and, of course, lots of fun! 💚🌳🙌

A HUGE thank you to everyone who joined us this week — you’ve made it such a brilliant few days! 🥰💚

And the adventures aren’t over yet… 👀🔥
🏹 Stone Age Survivors Holiday Clubs
📅 Tuesday 18th & Wednesday 19th August
⏰ 10am–3pm

We’ll soon be releasing our October Half Term Holiday Sessions too… 👀🍂🍁
Watch this space! 🌳✨

🌿✨ When you realise you’re living the life you dreamed about as a child… 💚
As a child, I lost myself in stories like The Wind in the Willows 🐸🌊, Oakapple Wood 🌳🍂, Foxwood Tales 🦊🏡 and Bramley Hedge 🐭🌸

I spent hours playing with my Sylvanian Families 🐰🐿️🦔, creating little worlds where animals lived in cosy homes among the hedgerows 🌿, wandered along riverbanks 🌊, gathered wild food 🍓🍄 and made beautiful things from the treasures they found in nature 🍃🧺✨

Those stories felt like magic to me. ✨
They made me dream of a life filled with muddy boots, woodland adventures, wild berries 🫐🍇, creativity 🎨 and the simple joy of making something from what nature provides 🌿💚

Fast-forward to this week ⏩ and I’ve spent the day at our Forest School holiday club 🌲🪵🔥 making and testing natural dyes using blackberries and elderberries! 🎨🫐🍇🌿

Later, I felt drawn to dig out one of my favourite childhood books 📚🥹… and there it was.

🐹🍇 Mr Squint the Mole, dyeing material using elderberries. 🎨🧶💜
And suddenly, it all made sense. 💭✨
All those stories I loved.
All those tiny worlds I created.
All those childhood dreams I carried quietly with me… 🌿💚
They were shaping me all along. 🥹

It’s funny how the stories 📖, toys 🧸 and dreams 💭 we love as children quietly weave themselves into who we become 🧵💚

Perhaps the things that light us up as children aren’t just passing interests. Maybe they are little clues ✨— gentle whispers about the lives we are meant to create. 🌱
And sometimes, years later, you look around… 🌿👀
…and realise that little you are living the life you used to imagine!

✨ You grew up… but you never lost the magic. ✨

🌟 Lark in the Park 2026! 🌟
What an awesome day Rushcliffe Borough Council Lark in the Park 2026!

💚 A HUGE thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello and join in with our nature-based crafts and activities today! We literally didn't stop from 10am - 4pm!!

🏅 I lost count at 180 wooden medallions made using a real saw and hand drill!
🎗 Hundreds of stick creations including ribbon wands, stick people and an all-seasons wreath!
🥄Lots of fun in our mini mud kitchen and on our sensory mat!
🫧 Too many giant bubbles to count!

🌳 It was lovely to see SO many familiar faces and meet lots of new families and introduce them to Fran Groombridge

As we didn't stop all day, we didn't manage to take any photos! 🙈 If you visited us today and are happy to share any photos you took, please feel free to tag us in or share them on our social media pages! 📷

💚 Huge thanks again! We are now unpacked and repacked for our A Pirate's Life for Me Family Session which takes place tomorrow 10.30-12

Time for feet up and chill before another fab day in the woods tomorrow! 🌳

🌲🍃 “What are we meant to do?” 🤔
It’s a question we often hear when children first arrive in our woods…

And the answer is:
✨ You’re not meant to do anything in particular! ✨

At our Forest School sessions, parties and Holiday Clubs, there’s no set outcome to copy and no expectation that everyone creates the same thing. 🚫📝

Instead, children are given time ⏳, space 🌿, freedom 💭 and a whole woodland full of possibilities! 🌲✨

For some children, especially those used to being given instructions or shown an example to recreate, this can take a little time to adjust to…
“What should I make?” 🤔
“Is this right?” 👀
“What do I do next?” 🤷‍♀️
But then, slowly, the questions begin to fade… 🌱Ideas start bubbling away 💭💡
Plans are made 🗺️
Creations begin to appear 🪵
Friendships and teamwork grow 🤝

💡 “I’ve got an idea!”
🪵 “Can we build this?”
🌿 “What happens if we try…?”
😄 “Let’s make it bigger!”

For some, this happens in a day. For others, it can take weeks—and that’s all part of the journey. 💚

Today at Holiday Club, we had:
🌳 Dens with zipwires, nets and trip wires
🪵 Intricate mallets, axes and spears being created
🏃 Woodland obstacle courses appearing between the trees
🎨 Natural dyes being made, filtered and tested
🍓 Wild food being foraged
💭 And lots of brilliant ideas we hadn’t planned!

We suggest activities, offer resources and share skills—but the end result is always the children’s choice. 🌿✨

That’s one of the reasons I love my job so much… no two days are ever the same! 💚

Our next Bushcraft Warriors might include some of the same activities 🌲🪓🔥… but with different children, different ideas and different imaginations, it will be a completely different adventure.

Because at Forest School, children aren’t told what to create…
✨ They’re given the freedom to discover what they want to create. ✨

(Although there’s a very good chance it will involve sticks, mud and making something much bigger than originally planned! 😂🪵🌲)
🌲 💭 🍃 🌿