Can Kids and Fire Mix? Yes, and Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing
If the words fire, child, and play in the same sentence make you a little uneasy, you’re not alone. This blog is especially for you.
At Wildlings Forest School, we offer hands-on, real-world experiences through our Sunshine Coast and Brisbane School Holiday Workshops, where children learn to embrace nature, take supported risks, and grow their confidence. Sometimes, that even includes learning how to safely work with fire.
Why Fire Is Part of Childhood (and Always Has Been)
Fire is one of the six “risky play” categories outlined by researcher Ellen Sandseter. It’s also one of the most ancient tools humans have ever used.
Over 1.5 million years ago, humans encountered fire through chance. It helped us survive the night, ward off predators, and eventually cook food — an evolution that may have helped grow our brains, according to primatologist Richard Wrangham.
In short, we evolved with fire. It’s part of who we are. Like any valuable skill, children learn to master it by experiencing it in a safe, supervised way, not by avoiding it altogether.
Fire, Risky Play and the School Holidays
We believe risk is not the same as danger, and keeping kids away from risk doesn’t necessarily keep them safe. Instead, we want to help children develop skills, knowledge, and confidence to manage real-world risks like fire with care and calm.
That’s what our Brisbane and Sunshine Coast School Holiday Workshops are all about. We give children space to experiment, explore, and build resilience through guided, meaningful outdoor play.
Reverence, Not Recklessness
So how do we actually introduce fire safely to children?
The answer is through reverence and respect.
We teach that fire is a tool, not a toy, just like a kitchen knife. It’s powerful, it has a purpose, and it must be handled with care. For young children, this might begin with simple rituals like lighting a candle together and noticing how it glows, flickers, and warms the space.
These early experiences build emotional intelligence, curiosity, and an appropriate sense of awe — defined as “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.” That’s exactly the feeling we want to nurture.
Safety Comes From Knowledge, Not Avoidance
Especially in the early stages, we emphasise two non-negotiables:
Fires must always be supervised by an adult.
Fires must always be contained.
Many house fires are started by young children, often with tragic outcomes. But avoiding the topic altogether doesn’t make them safer. Education does.
Our workshops are designed to help children:
Understand how fire behaves
Learn how to manage it with care
Build the confidence to make safe, informed choices in the real world
A Final Word (and a Toasted Marshmallow)
At Wildlings Forest School, we’re proud to offer Sunshine Coast and Brisbane School Holiday Workshops that reintroduce the wild, the muddy, and the magical into childhood.
Through supported, supervised fire play, we’re not just lighting campfires. We’re sparking lifelong skills like resilience, reverence, and responsibility.
🌱 Ready to give your child a real-world adventure?
Join our group of like-minded families and book into one of our school holiday workshops below.
👉 Book a School Holiday Workshop in Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast