Choosing the right gear for forest school – especially when the school is one with no building – is really important. The gear has to withstand all of the elements and keep your child dry and at an appropriate temperature. And this goes for all the gear. Please note: I do not get a kick-back from any of the brands or websites mentioned here. The only exception is the book link – that is an affiliate link, but it also supports local bookshops.
Brands
There are several brands for children’s outdoor gear that make quality stuff. We’ve had really good luck with Oaki and Reima. (Our school has a purchasing deal with Oaki, so that helps a lot with budgeting for gear.) We have also gotten a few odds and ends – like wool mittens – from Polarn O. Pyret. Of all of those, only Oaki is US based, if that matters to you. However, due to stricter codes on PFAS in Europe, there is a better guarantee with Reima or PO.P for being PFAS free. A lot of the kiddos at our child’s forest school also have the Tuffo rainsuit, and it seems to be a favorite.
Layering
All of those brands also carry wool base layers. For our child, we got more of the less expensive thinsulate base layers for most days, and one or two wool base layers for the really cold days. Reima has a wool base layer option that has bamboo in it (and this past year, they did a version that included Moomin branding that was adorable). The upside of this was that the interior of the base layer was not itchy, which can often be a problem with wool – even merino. Reima also has an amazing wool mid-layer that we got for our child that made a huge difference. I say this because he was able to wear his Oaki rain pants and Reima rain coat all winter long with the right layering underneath. This enabled him to be much more mobile. We also had the Oaki full body snowsuit, but the few times we got him in it, there were just tears and tears and tears. It was peace of mind for me, but it just never worked out. And he was plenty warm in the layers and rain gear. (Keep in mind, however, that we live in southern New York. We kept the full snowsuit all winter for our trips up north to New England. Not that he wore it, but we had it.) For more in depth info, check out the Outdoor School Shop’s Layering Guide.
Shoes
Oaki has an adorable selection of neoprene boots, and our child loves his. It took some convincing. He had a pair of Bobux rainboots that were adorable and flexible and had been an amazing transition shoe. (He didn’t like tall boots initially because they bothered his legs. It’s a big change from shoes to boots.) I can say that the lack of height made them tricky for puddle jumping exploits. But there are a lot of options out there. Unfortunately, while we did really like the Bobux design, they are not currently available in the US. (Shipping to the US is temporarily suspended.)
As for sneakers, we went straight to the usual outdoor outfitters. We started with shoes from L. L. Bean, which was great until we got to a size 10. Our kiddo is a little bit on the bigger side, but still, L. L. Bean sized out of velcro sneakers after size 10 (though there are still options for velcro hiking shoes). Fortunately, for our most recent pair, REI came through. They had Merrell hiking sneakers in colors our child liked with velcro closures at a size 10. The only downside is that they run narrower than the L. L. Bean shoes did. But our child’s first day at school in the new shoes, he was so excited about them he kept telling his teachers about them.
Summer
Gear and summer are trickier, because if it is full on raining and hot? What do you do? We keep our child’s rain pants and a light windbreaker in his bag every day for pop-up rain showers, but we also keep his swimsuit in there, too. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is embrace the rain and just get wet. (There’s also a splash pad in the park where our child goes to forest school, so the swimsuit is a good idea for that, too.)
Packing Everything Up
This is really important, especially if you go to a forest school with no building like we do. The bag you pack everything in has to be waterproof, not just water-resistant. We have found that the easiest way to achieve this is to pack everything in a 20L size kayak (or dry) bag. These are pretty easy to find via Amazon, but you have to be careful. Some of the cheaper brands are made of a plastic that doesn’t handle cold weather particularly well. Our first kayak bag cracked as the weather got colder. (Rule of thumb, if the plastic is semi-transparent, it probably won’t hold up.)
Since you will also need to keep everything organized for the teachers, we also found that transparent waterproof pouches on the inside help as well. I say waterproof for two reasons. First, if it is raining when the bag is open, you help reduce risk that things like diapers might get wet. Second, water bottle leaks are a real risk. Sometimes the water bottle is the source of all wetness problems for the day. Gallon size ziplocks are great for this. Also having a bag or two to contain wet/dirty boots can be handy too. I keep an old plastic grocery bag inside one of my child’s rainboots.
Snacks and Water
We use the Bentgo snack boxes for our child, but I’ve seen the kids at school with a lot of variations of snack containers. The trick is, I have also noticed that a lot of the metal with silicone containers end up needing to be placed into an additional bag. This is something we haven’t had to do with the Bentgo snack boxes. The downside to the Bentgo? You can’t stick the outer shells in the dishwasher.
We have also had good luck with Contigo water bottles. The trick here is that the ones for toddlers have very easy to press buttons on them. Great for your kid. Less great for getting accidentally pressed inside a tightly packed bag. We try to rest the water bottle on the top, button side up, to decrease the likelihood that it pops open. However, whatever happens during the school day, it may not get repacked after being used the same way. So I’ll reiterate here: pack the bag in such a way that a water bottle leak isn’t devastating.
Still Thinking About Forest School?
I had been hearing about the benefits of outdoor, unstructured play for a long time. And when you’re in an education program, you are often bombarded with all the research articles about it. Add to that the newer research studies since I finished my masters program, including the one NPR posted recently about spending time outside being linked to lowered cases of myopia in children. For my child, the difference between the kid who started and the one I have now is marked. Some of that comes from natural development. But it is also amazing the ways he has found to be creative with storytelling and imagination.
One book I love for thinking about spending more time outside with your kids is Linda Åkeson McGurk’s There’s No Such Things as Bad Weather. I particularly love the tips for hiking with small ones, and her “Scandinavian Mother’s ‘Get Up and Go Outside’ Manefesto”.
You can also find more resources, information, and even gear through the Outdoor School Shop.