Wilding activity guides

Themed collections

Hand-picked sets of Wilding activity guides for a purpose: a walk in the woods, a camping trip, a party, your Scout group or Forest School. Open one to see every card at once, or try a lucky dip.

For youThe 28-day Sit Spot JourneyTwenty-eight days, one wild place and a small thank you each day. Comes with the printable journey.29 Wilding activity guides →

For youForest BathingSlow down, open every sense and let the woods do the rest. Gentle, quiet activities for one.50 Wilding activity guides →

For youBushcraft EssentialsEverything a beginner bushcraft course covers, for you to learn and practise yourself: staying safe, knife and folding saw, shelter and knots, fire without matches, water, cordage and simple campfire cooking. No axes or bow drills.68 Wilding activity guides →

For you, family or groupFood from the FireEvery campfire recipe and cooking method: fires for cooking, pot hangers and ovens, utensils to carve, breads and pancakes, wild food recipes and wild drinks.59 Wilding activity guides →

For families and groupsWild Games 1: Stalk, Hide & ChaseRunning-around games inspired by nature: stalking, hiding, chasing, predator and prey. Great for burning off energy outdoors.51 Wilding activity guides →

For families and groupsWild Games 2: Sense, Guess & MatchQuieter games inspired by nature: sensing, guessing, matching, memory and tricks. Good for a calmer moment or a smaller space.64 Wilding activity guides →

For you, family or groupWild CraftsMake things from what nature offers: natural art, cordage, wooden tools, dyes, decorations and keepsakes.52 Wilding activity guides →

For you, family or groupSupporting NatureGive back: homes for wildlife, growing for pollinators, surveys and everyday care for the places you love.70 Wilding activity guides →

For you, family or groupTracking & TrailingFootprints, trails, signs and the stories they tell, from your first track to following a trail.56 Wilding activity guides →

For you, family or groupAfter DarkNight walks, owls, bats, moths, moon and stars: the wild world after sunset.24 Wilding activity guides →

For families and groups50 Wild Things to Do on a Woodland WalkFifty ideas to turn any walk in the woods into an adventure. Nothing to cut or take: just your senses, curiosity and sometimes a crayon or a card.50 Wilding activity guides →

For families and groups50 Wild Things to Do on a Camping TripFire, shelter, night skies, campfire stories and dawn choruses: fifty ways to make a camping trip wild.50 Wilding activity guides →

For groups of children50 Wild Things to Do at a Wild PartyRun-around games, scavenger hunts and simple natural crafts for a birthday or gathering outdoors. No tools, no fire: easy to set up and made for groups of children.50 Wilding activity guides →

For leaders of youth groupsScout & Guide LeadersReady-to-run sessions for Scout, Guide and other youth group leaders, arranged to match the badges they support: a leader's toolkit, then Naturalist, Environmental conservation, Survival skills, Backwoods cooking, Navigator and hikes away, and tracking and stalking games.118 Wilding activity guides →

For Forest School and outdoor educatorsForest SchoolSensory play, games, crafts, tool and fire skills, and caring for your site, for Forest School leaders and outdoor educators.72 Wilding activity guides →

Safety, and where the Wilding activity guides come from

Look after yourself and others. Outdoor activities carry real risks: fire, tools, water, weather, heights, plants, fungi, animals and getting lost. Every Wilding activity guide includes safety notes, but you are responsible for your own safety and for anyone in your care. Supervise children closely, get the landowner's permission, follow the Countryside Code, never eat anything you cannot identify with complete certainty, and only light fires where it is allowed and safe. If in doubt, leave it out.

With gratitude to the lineage. Wilding and its Practice Keys are inspired by the work of Jon Young and colleagues: the core routines of nature connection in the 8 Shields approach, also known as Coyote Mentoring, shared in Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature (Young, Haas & McGown). Many of the Wilding activity guides grew from those routines.

These ways of noticing and belonging are far older than any book. They grow from the knowledge of Indigenous and land-based peoples around the world, who have lived in close relationship with the land for thousands of years and have kept that knowledge alive, often in the face of great loss. Jon Young describes 8 Shields as built on patterns of nature connection he found in Indigenous cultures around the world, and on what his mentors taught him, including the teachings passed down through Tom Brown Jr. from Grandfather Stalking Wolf. Our own ancestors in these islands once knew the land in this way too.

I offer Wilding with deep respect and thanks to all of them. It does not claim or copy any culture's ceremonies or sacred practices. It is a UK way of carrying forward simple, shared human ways of paying attention, giving thanks and belonging to a place. — Jay