Lighting a Fire with the Sun

Fire lighting is a central part of Forest School and we have talked about this before in our post about making Fire Tins. It is therefore natural that we experiment with different ways of starting a fire.

On long hot days it is very easy to start a fire with a magnifying glass and the heat of the sun. In fact it is very, very easy so this activity definitely requires parental supervision!

Dragonflies will find a magnifying glass and a variety of tinder (char cloth, King Alfred’s Cake, cotton wool and eucalyptus leaves and bark) in their activity pack to experiment with. We also recommend having a bucket of water to hand, working on a metal tray, tin lid or similar and weighting the tinder with a stick if there is a risk it might blow away.

If you are interested in learning more about what char cloth is and how it is made you can find out here.

At a Forest School session we would add the smoldering tinder that has been lit to a larger tinder bundle and use it to start the main fire. Families should decide if this is appropriate for them to do at home.

Below are a couple of videos from Sarah and Kev going through the process of starting a fire with the power of the sun. We hope you have as much fun as they did!