---
title: "What to wear to forest school: the kit"
description: "What children wear to forest school: one warm, waterproof kit for every child, what the kit fee covers, how to bring it, and what to pack each day."
url: https://www.forestschool.wales/kit
updated: 2026-10-10
---

# Forest school kit: Warm, dry and ready for anything

Every child at Footprints has the same good kit, so nobody is cold, nobody is wet, and nobody feels different. It comes with your place, for one kit fee, and we look after the sizing.

## Why one kit for everyone

### Warm children learn

A cold child stops exploring and starts waiting to go home. The right layers mean a wet November morning is simply a wet November morning.

### The right things, not the most things

Thin merino next to the skin, a fleece, then proper waterproofs: three layers that work together, not a drawer of nearly-right ones.

### Nothing to find on a Tuesday night

The kit lives in its bag, ready. No last-minute hunt for the other welly.

![A child's forest school kit laid out flat: a yellow waterproof jacket and bib trousers, wellies, merino layers, wool socks, a bobble hat, mittens, a fleece and a kit bag.](https://www.forestschool.wales/art/kit-flatlay.301b0463-800.jpg)

## What is in the kit

Scandinavian-style outdoor nursery kit, the kind made to be lived in all day, every day.

### Waterproof jacket and bib trousers

A hooded shell jacket with matching bib trousers, in one solid colour, fully waterproof and breathable (Didriksons or equivalent).

### Merino base layer

A thin merino wool top and leggings: warm when wet, soft, and they do not smell.

### Merino socks, two pairs

Thick wool socks for the wellies, with a spare pair in the bag.

### Neoprene-lined wellies

Lined wellies keep feet warm in standing water; thin unlined ones do not.

### Fleece

The middle layer, for the colder half of the year.

### Knitted hat and waterproof mittens

Mittens on a string, so they come home.

### A Yeti or Klean Kanteen bottle

Steel, easy to clean, and it will last the whole of your child's time at forest school and long after. Cheap plastic bottles crack, leak and go green inside.

## Bringing it with you

The kit comes to the woods with your child every session, in one bag.

We recommend the big Tesco bag for life, the one that changes every few months and often has a favourite character on it, from The Tiger Who Came to Tea to Raymond Briggs's Snowman. It is cheap, strong, and exactly the right size for the whole kit, backpack included.

The full kit list, down to the spare socks, lives in [the Den](https://www.forestschool.wales/den).

## What the kit fee covers

One fee, paid once, that covers the whole kit above. The amount will be on this page when places open, and founding families hear it first.

| What                                | In the kit fee | You bring |
| ----------------------------------- | -------------- | --------- |
| Waterproof jacket and bib trousers  |                |           |
| Merino base layer, top and leggings |                |           |
| Merino socks, two pairs             |                |           |
| Neoprene-lined wellies              |                |           |
| Fleece                              |                |           |
| Hat and mittens                     |                |           |
| Yeti or Klean Kanteen bottle        |                |           |
| A big bag to carry it all in        |                |           |
| A small backpack, for lunch         |                |           |
| A packed lunch                      |                |           |
| Spare clothes in a bag, for the car |                |           |
| Sun cream, in summer                |                |           |

We check sizes at the start of every term.

## Looking after it

- Merino washes cool and dries overnight; it needs washing far less often than cotton.
- Waterproofs go in the wash on their own, without softener, and get reproofed when water stops beading.
- Wellies dry upside down, never by the fire.

## Good to know

### We already have good kit. Do we still pay the kit fee?

Tell us what you have when you book and we will talk it through. The point of the kit is that every child is warm and dry, not that every child matches.

### What about growing?

Sizes are checked at the start of each term, and a child who has grown out of something gets the next size.

### Can we wear it at weekends?

Please do. Kit that gets used is kit that gets looked after.

[Join the founding families](https://www.forestschool.wales/join)

Founding families hear the kit fee first.