Outdoor Skills for Kids. Confidence Through Action.
Danger Done Right.
Why Fire & Knives?
The Problem
Rising anxiety, decreased independence, and over-protection are creating a generation unprepared for real-world challenges.
Our Solution
Expert-led, age-appropriate risk-taking activities that build confidence, skills, and resilience in a safe environment.
The Result
Kids who are confident, capable, and connected to the real world - ready to face life's challenges with courage.
Our Philosophy
We believe in kids.
Their natural curiosity is the spark that feeds the fire. They don't need hand-holding — just a little guidance, a safe circle, and the chance to take a risk and see the rewards.
Fire & Knives exists to return kids to the natural world: dirt under their nails, tools in their hands, pride in their eyes. To give them adventure with consequence, responsibility with freedom, and joy with just enough danger.
We channel the spirit of the cool uncle — the one who takes you camping, hands you the real knife, and says, "I'll show you how to use it right." The one who shepherds curiosity into skill, and awe into respect.
Your kids are in good hands. They'll learn to lead, to respect the flame, to trust themselves and their team. We teach resilience, grit, and courage — the kind you can't download, only earn.
Never before has the need been so great for kids to simply be kids. To roam, to try, to fail, to try again — guided, not shielded.
"Eyes off screens. Hands in the dirt. Confidence earned."
Our Guiding Principles
Controlled Risk, Real Growth
We believe in calculated risks that challenge children within safe boundaries, fostering genuine confidence and resilience.
Join The Team
We're looking for skilled, confident outdoor educators
Brookline, MA
Lead Instructor
Teach outdoor skills 3 days/week. Confident with fire, knives, group management.
Assistant Instructor
Support lead instructor, manage small groups, build skills with kids.
Andover, MA
Lead Instructor
Lead winter program focused on cold-weather skills and bushcraft.
Assistant Instructor
Support Andover program, work with ages 5-9.
Remote
Chief of Skills
Curriculum-focused role for designing lessons, testing new skills, scaling programs.
Internship (Winter/Spring)
For college students interested in outdoor ed, early childhood, bushcraft.
What Parents are Saying...
"This is the only program my son begs to go back to."
— Sarah K.
Why We Exist — Books That Inspire Us
These are the thinkers who shaped Fire & Knives — authors who saw the crisis coming:
too little freedom, too much fear, not enough nature.
Their work inspires our mission to give kids real tools, real challenge, and confidence you can't download.
The Anxious Generation
Jonathan Haidt
Why modern kids are overwhelmed, disconnected, and stuck in digital childhood — and why real play and responsibility matter now more than ever.
Fire & Knives Outdoor Birthday Parties
1.5 hours of adventure-based instruction
Kids learn:
- • Fire basics
- • Knife skills
- • Shelter building
- • Tracking
- • Camouflage & awareness
- • Teamwork challenges
Location: Greater Boston only
Frequently Asked Questions
Join the Club
Stay up to date on our progress! Lots of events coming - stay in the know.
Contact Us
Subscribe to 🔥 Playing with Fire - Weekly field notes from our founder.
Playing with Fire
A behind-the-scenes journal of building Fire & Knives—a kids' outdoor skills program teaching courage, safety, and adventure—told with sparks of story, strategy, and smoke.