The simple way to teach your child how to light a fire part 2.

Part 2 Creating a flame

When you and your child have mastered creating a spark with a flint and steel your next step is to combine the ember that the spark has made with a flammable material (tinder) to create a flame. This is sooooo exciting for children (and adults). 

Why this might be helpful to you....You may well be on board with all the benefits of teaching firelighting to children 

But need:

• A set format to follow
• A few tips on staying safe
• Some help with what to prepare

I am going to give you 6 steps to follow to help you support your child in creating a flame using a spark and flammable material.

Science bit

To create a fire you need the presence of three things:

HEAT

FUEL

OXYGEN

If you are ever confused about why your fire isn’t going as well as you had hoped then ask yourself which one of these three things may be missing.

It is called the fire triangle.

Creating fire using flammable material and a spark is the fuel bit of the fire triangle. 

Here are my 6 steps:

1. What you will need

• cotton wool pad or ball
• Flint and steel 
• 4 sticks to create a fire area
• A metal bowl (optional if the ground is not suitable to fire light on)
• Emergency water
• A still dry day (No wind or rain)

2. Safe space

• Create a fire area with your child by collecting 4 sticks about half a metre long. Place them on a square. The inside of the square represents where the fire should be. Never outside of the square. For the purposes of getting a spark, you can have a fairly small fire area, however, it is important to note that the bigger the fire, the bigger the fire square needs to be in order to keep a safe distance.
• Tie back anything that dangles. This mainly refers to hair and toggles for children but anything that could potentially catch fire (although unlikely, it is a good routine to get into)
• Take off gloves and coats or roll sleeves up Again, this is to remove all flammable materials which are near to where the spark will be made.
• Safe sitting position At Forest School we teach one knee up and one knee down as the safest way to sit around a fire. The position means it is quick and easy to push up and step away from danger (flames, embers, smoke etc) and it also helps to stay balanced preventing falling forwards towards the fire. Young children (2-4 year olds) may find this physically difficult so just keep practising remembering that the main thing is that your child feels comfortable and is in a safe position.
• Water for extinguishing the fire A bucket of water is essential to have nearby in case of any accidents. Cold water is the best first line treatment for burns and also if you need to put the fire out for any reason.

Creating this safe space is full of great learning opportunities for your child so even though it is quicker for you to fill the bucket of water or create the fire area for example, it is more beneficial for your child to do it with your support. It will develop their understanding at a more rapid rate.

3. Prepare cotton wool

Cotton wool is great to use as the initial fuel to get your fire started, otherwise known as tinder. The reason being that it is very fibrous and also flammable. You can easily use it's fibres to the max by teasing/fluffing them out. If you are using a cotton wool pad simply peel the top layer back, revealing all the little fibres sticking up on both sides. Each one is an opportunity for the spark to fall on and light.

A good demonstration of this learning point is to first offer children the pad that hasn’t been peeled apart so hasn’t got any fibres sticking up and see how easy it is to light then offer the one with the multitude of fibres. There is a clear difference. (see video)

4. Create a spark and light the cotton wool

Create a spark part 1 as before but this time hover it over the cotton wool. Once the spark drops onto the cotton wool fibres it lights. 

If your child is struggling you could:

• Fluff the cotton wool to create more ‘sticking out’ fibres
• Make sure the cotton wool is still dry 
• Stabilise the flint by bracing it against something hard like a log.

Watch the cotton wool burn and use this time to talk about what your child thinks is happening. A lot of children will say the cotton wool is melting instead of burning.

Encourage your child to stop sparking once the cotton wool is lit as this won’t achieve anything

Try to use positive language  instead of ‘be careful’ you could use the sentence starter … ‘notice how the flames are making the fire hotter’ ‘use your hand to feel the heat’

4. What next? How long do you leave it?

If you don’t intend to build a fire then just let it burn out.

Wait until all the embers (orange glowing bits) have disappeared. 

Good rule of thumb is ‘where there is smoke there’s fire’ so children know when something is still smoking it could still be very hot.

5. Putting the fire out 

This is an extremely important part of teaching children about fire lighting. It offers the opportunity for you to ask your child what they already know about the dangers of not putting fires out properly. Topics like bush fires, danger to wildlife, habitats, using our emergency services unnecessarily, endangering people are a few examples.

It’s a good idea to treat even a little fire as hot until you have put it out with water.

It is important to remember that you will find it difficult to repeat the process on wet ground so probably better to do the extinguish process at the end of your firelighting session.

1. Find a stick long enough to poke the fire at a safe distance.
2. ‘Spread the ashes’ spread the remains of the fire.
3. Pour water slowly around the outside of the fire.
4. Pour water on the rest of the fire.
5. You will see steam/smoke rise.

This is over the top for a little fire but is great for children to practice the extinguishing process in a controlled environment, even if there is no evidence of fire anymore.

6. Leave no trace

If you are lucky enough to be firelighting in a wood.

1. Make sure you have permission
2. If the landowner doesn’t want fire on the ground then use a metal bowl (remember it will get hot)
3. Remove all charred material (including wood for bigger fires)
4. Use ground litter to cover the area so it is returned to how it was when you found it.

If you have created a more permanent fire area on your own land or garden then the choice is yours but it is again a great opportunity for your child to learn about conservation.

I hope you have found this useful. Next week I will be sharing fire extender skills with you. This is the start of the process of building a fire and maintaining it.

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Have a great weekend. Have fun with your flint and steel.

Sally