School Holiday Clubs/Camps: Our Guide to Parents
School Holiday Club Guide
Looking for a way to keep your child entertained, active, and learning during the school holidays?
Our school holiday club guide has everything you need to know about holiday clubs, with a special focus on the benefits of outdoor camps.
Whether you're a parent juggling work commitments or just want to offer your child a new adventure, these clubs provide the perfect mix of fun, learning, and socialisation. With outdoor holiday clubs, your child will experience thrilling new activities and take a well-deserved break from screens and routine.
What is an outdoor school holiday club?
Holiday clubs are designed to give children a fantastic experience outside the classroom, filled with exciting activities and new experiences. They typically cater to children aged 3 to 14 years, with some clubs even accepting Tax-Free Childcare payments.
Outdoor camps, in particular, offer a sense of adventure by immersing children in nature, promoting physical activity, creativity, and social interaction in a refreshing, screen-free environment. At Outdoor Owls, we offer an exciting mix of fun and educational outdoor experiences.
Why choose an outdoor school holiday club?
An outdoor school holiday camp is a great opportunity for children who are on school holidays to spend time in the great outdoors to have fun and learn! When parents may either be busy with work and looking for somewhere for their child be have great care and also fun or parents who wish for further new experiences they are a great option. A big focus of them in today’s world is being able to get children away from screens and technology and spending time unplugged in nature where they can develop life skills and experience something different from a traditional school curriculum.
Typically they will run in natural environments such as woodlands and parks during days and weeks outside of school term. Programmes focus on engaging children in outdoor activities that promote physical activity, creativity, and social development. Forest school camps will get children connecting and spending time in nature doing activities whereas other typical school holiday clubs may do most activities indoors and some activities outdoors.
Outdoor school holiday clubs emphasize safety and provide a structured environment where children can explore, develop new skills, and make new friends, all while enjoying the fresh air and natural surroundings.
What are the benefits of an outdoor holiday clubs/camp?
There are plenty of benefits of outdoor holiday clubs for children. These can centre around fostering growth in physical, mental and emotional skills.
Physical Activity and Mental Health
Being outside encourages children to get active and move their body. With exposure to an abundance of sunlight and fresh air it helps support their immune system, helping reduce illness. By having these days and hours outside this helps improve sleep too as physical activity combined with natural light light helps to regulate sleep cycles and improve quality of sleep.
Being in a natural environment is calming. Away from screens children can allow their senses to lead them. The interaction with nature helps reduce stress and promote relaxation.
Social Skills
Whilst children can often attend clubs and camps with friends they already know, it’s a great opportunity to mix and make new friends during these weeks.
Meeting new people and often in different age groups it can help children learn new social dynamics and build their social confidence from interactions in new social spaces and also others from different backgrounds. Through lots of different activities, often requiring teamwork children can develop their communication, collaboration and leading skills. Sometimes this can take children out of their comfort zone but this helps develop character, independence and confidence along with adapting to new situations. Doing activities outdoors helps to promote more mindful interactions too.
Skills Learning and Connection to Nature
Through exposure to having a go in different types of activities ranging from games, team and individual activities, arts & crafts and practical skills there can be lots of new learning moments and opportunities for children to be inspired. Clubs and camps can often focus on developing children’s creative sides and this can help infuse children to develop new lifelong passions and spark hidden talents they have. Within these learning activities and when trying something new a sense of resilience is built along with supporting their ability to problem solve.
Time spent in nature helps children to develop a connection with nature and to develop an appreciation for wildlife and a love for nature. Children will develop their environmental awareness where educators will help share understanding and promote eco-friendly attitudes, behaviours and habits
Read our blog to learn more about the importance of outdoor learning in early years.
What ages are school holiday clubs for?
School holiday camps typically cater to children between the ages of 3 and 14, though age groups vary depending on the camp’s activities and structure.
School holiday camps like Outdoor Owls who cater for ages 4 to 7, will have a focus on play-based learning, creative activities, and gentle outdoor exploration, and are in most cases day camps. Most camps will require that children are toilet trained. Between the ages of 8 and 14, more adventurous activities like hiking, swimming, team sports, and skill-building programs are offered.
When are school holiday clubs on/run?
School holiday camps typically run during school term breaks, Monday to Friday. Some clubs may offer weekend sessions too.
Yearly dates for School Holiday Clubs will usually be:
February half-term: 1 week
Easter/ Spring end of term: 2 weeks
May half-term: 1 week
Summer holidays July - August holidays: 6 weeks
You can see a list of Outdoor Owls dates on our holiday camps page.
What does a forest holiday club day look like?
A forest holiday club or camp will be filled with plenty of natural exploration combined with activities, all set within a forest or woodland setting. The day will typically have a set routine for times of free flow play and then instructor led activities, wrapped around food times.
Once children have arrived and settled in to beocme familiar with adults and the setting and boundaries, the day may begin with a few ice-breaker activities around a fire circle. Children will be explained what will be happening in the day and there might be some voting on what activities are done for the day. Some camps might split children into groups or team for the day too.
Free flow play may be a central feature and will involve children exploring the natural environment and play/ learning stations set up within the camp area. These can include arts & craft areas, physical play including obstacle courses, swings, building and constructing areas and other possible games and book reading areas. Instructors may go around and encourage and extend play whilst supervising. Then at times instructors may call and begin for children to partake in instructor led activities within the camp area too or perhaps to go out to explore other surrounding parts of the forest or woodland. These may be specific nature based learnings, story tellings, arts & craft activities, STEM and experiment activities, team-building exercises, sports or games and much more.
Children will have a time and space to break for lunch and snacks. Some forest club may provide an outdoor cooking experience too. Come the end of the day children are collected by parents and instructors will be able to share a few highlights about what they enjoyed on the day.
How to enroll in a holiday club?
Enrolling in a school holiday camp is usually a straightforward process whereby most clubs will have a website where you can find information, dates and availability and often be able to book online. Check out information online to assess whether clubs and camps match your child’s interests. It’s worth checking out reviews online too.
When signing up you will be required to provide some personal details and information about yourself and your child, including any medical conditions. Some outdoor camps may have a specific kit list too. On our website you can see all information about our holiday camps, what a typical day is like, and dates/ availability where you can also book and pay online to secure your child’s place. With us you can also use Tax-Free childcare to pay for your booking along with offering a sibling discount.
We offer holiday camps in Cobham and Guildford, with pick up locations in Richmond and Putney.
What activities do school holiday clubs offer?
Each holiday club offers a range of activities to keep children engaged and entertained. Common activities include:
Arts & Crafts (painting, drawing, clay sculpting)
Outdoor Adventures (den-building, scavenger hunts, nature walks)
Sports & Physical Play (team games, obstacle courses, swimming)
STEM Challenges (building, puzzles, experiments)
Music & Drama (singing, dancing, role-play)
Cooking & Baking (campfire snacks, dessert making)
Are outdoor holiday clubs safe?
Many outdoor holiday clubs are regulated by Ofsted and so will have clear safeguarding protocol in places. Those which aren’t Ofsted registered should also have policies and procedures to ensure safe running.
Outdoor school holiday clubs are operate with high safety standrads, as they must follow strict safety protocols to ensure children’s well-being.
All staff are DBS checked, trained in child safeguarding, and we operate every day with several onsite team members fully trained in first-aid. There are also low child-to-adult ratios to ensure that there is close supervision for all children.
At Outdoor Owls, our holiday clubs are run by an experienced team of educators who perform daily pre-opening checks and risk-assessments around the site along with ensuring weather for the day is planned. Each day there is a set lead team member who will oversee the running and quality of the day. All children attending are checked to see if they have appropriate clothing and are shared our forest school rules so they are safe and ready to have a fun day!
Are outdoor holiday clubs popular in the UK?
Outdoor holiday clubs are becoming increasingly popular in the UK, as many parents are looking to keep their children active, engaged and away from screens during their time off school. Post-pandemic, there has been an increased awareness of the benefits of outdoor play and nature-based learning, and its positive impact on health and well-being. Compared to traditional indoor clubs and camps, outdoor offerings are able to provide greater activities which promote fun and adventure as well as learning and socialisation.
Holiday Camps/Clubs with Outdoor Owls
At Outdoor Owls we offer holiday camps across all our locations for children aged 4-7 year old.
These are forest school holiday camps where our team of educators will perform a variety of exciting activities focused on arts & crafts, games, and forest activities. Whilst we do specific forest school activities we also mix other traditional and new fun games and exercises to engage children’s body’s, mind’s, and souls.
Parents are required to confirm that their child is toilet trained, to bring a packed lunch and also dress their child in appropriate clothing according to the weather - we send parents a kit list to help. Depending on numbers and ages in camps, our team will deliver fun and learning typically in two age groups each day, 4 - 5 years and separately 6 - 7 years.
Parents can book full holiday camp weeks or book separate individual days. We would recommend booking a couple of days minimum per camp to expose your child to a range of different activities but we have no minimum number of days for a booking.
Once bookings are made they are not refundable or transferrable in any circumstances including if they are unable to attend suddenly. Children do not currently have to be attending or previously attended Outdoor Owls nursery to join our holiday camps. We accept Tax-free Childcare payments and Childcare Vouchers.
At our Surrey forest locations in Cobham and Guildford parents drop children off in the morning at 9am where they will spend the day in our forest camp and then collect in the afternoon by 4pm. We also offer access for families based in London, particularly South West London, we offer a minibus service (between 25-45 minutes) where children can be dropped off in the morning and picked up in the evening either in Richmond or Putney, where they’ll be greeted by our team and take a fun minibus journey (where we play games on the bus) to our forest in Cobham. Drop off and pick up timings differ between London sites but typically are between 8:15 - 8:30am and 4 - 5pm.
If you’re looking to give your child great days outdoors in their holidays, you can book online straightaway on our website here – outdoorowls.com/holiday-camps
Bookings are subject to availability and do book early to avoid dissappointment!
If you have further questions about our camps do check our location pages and also our FAQs. If there’s anything else on your mind feel free to drop our friendly team an email to hello@outdoorowls.com
