Ep 51 - Nature Connection with Lily Horseman

In this lively, laugh-filled episode of The Forest School Podcast, Lewis and Gemma welcome long-time online linchpin Lily Horseman (Chair of the Forest School Association and founder of Kindling) for a free-ranging chat that moves from stationery obsessions to slime-mould revelations. Together they explore:

• the comfort—and peril—of social-media echo chambers for practitioners

• Lily’s journey from feral childhood through playwork to Forest School training

• why Forest School has flourished while playwork funding has withered

• balancing practical skills with deep ethos on leader courses

• using doodles, matchboxes and wallpaper rolls to make theory stick

• creating a sense of wilderness in a bus-stop-sized urban copse

• how nature connection reframes risky play (and teaches respect for bark and worms)

• weather, wind speeds and the art of saying “it depends” with confidence

• the magic of authentic presence, permission and collective silliness around the fire

⏱ Chapter Timings
00 : 00 – Banter, missing video & the lure of fresh notebooks
02 : 43 – Meet Lily: FSA chair, Kindling founder & Facebook hive-minder
06 : 44 – From tree-climbing teen to playworker to Forest School trainer
09 : 43 – Forest School vs playwork: politics, funding and public appetite
14 : 31 – Training leaders: ethos first, skills second—and why “it depends”
32 : 14 – Wind-risk doodles, social-media pile-ons and holding boundaries online
42 : 35 – Tiny urban woodlands that feel vast after four immersive days
56 : 10 – Hide-and-seek as a gateway to hard-wired nature connection
1 : 08 : 33 – Tree-bashing, worm care & repairing relationships with the more-than-human world
1 : 16 : 44 – Grumpy Badger cream fights, year-end rituals and joyful nonsense

🌲 Keywords: Forest School training, playwork decline, online community, risk & wind, reflective practice, doodle pedagogy, tiny woodlands, nature connection, authenticity, child-led play

🔖 Hashtags:
#ForestSchool #Playwork #NatureConnection #OutdoorLearning #ReflectivePractice #ForestSchoolTraining #ChildLedPlay #CommunityOfPractice #SlimeMouldLove #Kindling

🌐 More Episodes & Support:
Listen to more and access resources at www.theforestschoolpodcast.com
Support the show at www.patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast
Training & face-to-face courses: www.childrenoftheforest.com
Questions or collaboration: [email protected]