About the Author

Why Wild Advent?

How this book works

Things to do when it’s cold

Create your own icicle

Create icy decorations

Find frost

Breathe like a baby dragon

Hail, sleet and freezing rain

Make snow taffy

Things to do in the dark

Spot when darkness falls

Make a clay diva lamp

Pebble pictures

Jam-jar lanterns

Using your senses

Kinetic gravity sand art

Things to do with others

Trail of light

Shadow theatre

Star-gazing on a blanket

Yule bonfire

Candlelit dinner

Short and easy things to make and do

Fire-lighting

Make a Nativity scene

Tree ID

Bird food café

Make a wreath

Even shorter things to do

Listen to the birds go to bed

Watch a murmuration

Watch the sky change colour

The holly and the ivy

Turn the thermostat down

Thematic Index

In Praise of Wild Advent

Rachel lives in a vicarage in East London with her husband, their five kids, and a veritable menagerie of pets. She loves her corner of the urban wild, and the fact that within a few minutes she can be surrounded by the multicultural busyness of the market, awed by the wide expanse of the marshes, or enclosed amongst the ancient trees of Epping Forest

A teacher by trade, and daughter of the highly successful author, Susan Sayers, Rachel moved from teaching in primary schools, through doing work one-to-one with excluded teens, to retraining as a forest school practitioner. She now delivers forest school sessions to nurseries, schools, and the general public. Although she never quite manages to scrub the mud off her hands, Rachel believes she has the best job in the world.

Sharing the magic of all things slimy and interesting, watching the seasons shift and the weather change, finding the beauty in the commonplace and insignificant, holding space for others to explore: these are some of the things which get Rachel excited. She gives thanks for the people, communities and world that God has given her to live in and be a part of, and takes delight in sharing that joy with others.

Rachel is also the author of Wild Lent and Wild Worship