Outdoor Woodland Youth Group - Fire, metal, and figuring things out as we go

23 Mar

Written By Gina Lundy

Over the last six weeks we ran a pilot focused on fire skills and outdoor craft and honestly, it felt like a bit of an experiment from the start.

We had a new group, a slightly ambitious plan (ancient fire lighting, cooking on the fire, making fire strikers, casting pewter…) and a team that was also finding its feet together.

And it worked. Not perfectly - but in all the ways that matter.

From week one, there was something really solid about the group. People kept coming back. They got to know each other quickly. There was a lot of curiosity, a fair bit of chaos at times, and some genuinely lovely moments of focus and pride in what they were making.

Lighting a fire from scratch is no small thing - and neither is pouring molten metal into something you’ve made yourself. Watching that shift from “not sure I can do this” to “look what I made” was a gift.

The space

A big part of this has been having Rumpus Room Yard as a base.

It’s given us somewhere we can start and return to, while also heading out into the park to explore, forage and gather materials in future sessions.

Having that mix of structure and freedom has been important. And alongside that, having a youth work approach - supported by Rumpus Room where we’re not just delivering activities, but paying attention to group dynamics, confidence, and voice - is also starting to help us shape how future sessions will feel.

Not everything was explicit at the start (for us or for the group), but over time things settled. Roles became clearer. Expectations too. The group began to feel like… a group.

What we learned

There was a lot of “new” in this pilot - new young people, new team, new rhythms.

That came with challenges. Different skill levels, different energy, and at times trying to do quite ambitious things in a two-hour window.

But it also meant we were building something from the ground up.

Each week got easier. We found our flow more. The group trusted us more - and we trusted them.

And importantly, they kept showing up.

What’s next

We’re going to keep going.

Same day (Tuesdays), slightly later time 4:30–6:30pm, running through term-time until the end of December 2026.

We’ll keep using the yard as a base and spend more time out in Queen's Park, getting to know the landscape and the materials we can work with.

There’ll be more crafting- woven things, natural dyes, pigments, drawing, cooking - alongside space for young people to follow their own ideas a bit more.

Some sessions will be more guided, some more open.