One particularly popular aspect of Woodland School is when we use our fire to cook snacks for us to eat. Over the course of the school year all children get to prepare, cook and eat simple food on a campfire, from our Reception children up to our Year Two children. In addition to this we have been running a campfire cooking club, giving the children an opportunity to extend these skills to slightly more challenging snacks and to explore different techniques for cooking on a fire.

Preparing and cooking food with children provides lots of opportunities for learning. Children learn best by touching, tasting, feeling, observing, reading and listening, all of which often play a part when cooking at Woodland School. When taking part in cooking the children are considering hygiene, fire safety as well as developing fine motor skills through the use of purpose specific tools. There are also many opportunities for cross curricular learning such as counting, weighing, measuring, predicting, observing, food groups and balanced diets, to name just a few.

A Risk Benefit Assessment is carried out for all Woodland School activities, including cooking on a fire. Food allergies and medical requirements are considered and adapted for as part of this process.