The latest exciting partnership between Forestry England, and Magic Light Pictures see’s everyone’s favourite dragon – based on the eponymous book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler - returning to Forestry England’s WhinlatterForest. Launching on 18 February 2023, the new family activity trail and a free interactive app, developed by Arcade, will encourage your little dragons to learn about how they can care for the forest and how the forests can care for them!

Zog is a loveable, if somewhat clumsy dragon at Madam Dragon’s school who is always striving to win a golden star. Zog learns lots of essential dragon skills including flying, roaring, and capturing princesses! Forestry England’s Lake District forests are once again inviting children into the forest to learn essential lessons just like Zog.

Connecting with nature is essential for children’s wellbeing and the new interactive family trail and app invites children to play in Whinlatter and Grizedale. Whilst playing, children will find out more about forests and have the chance to interact with Zog and some of his fellow dragon students!

Grab a Zog trail activity pack for only £4 before starting the trail for lots of fun things to do on your forest adventure. Children can channel their inner Zog by donning a pair of wings and completing fun challenges to collect golden stars. They can also pop on the magic glasses to look for hidden letters along the way to solve a word puzzle. When reaching the end of the trail, they complete a crayon rubbing to get their certificate and take a selfie with Zog!

To complement the trail and to take your dragon training to the next level, there is also a brand new augmented reality app, ‘Zog: A Forest Adventure’, that is free to download. The app has lots of bonus activities to complete including a roar-ometer, a dance challenge and the chance to become Zog.

Ellen Devine, Wellbeing Projects Manager said:

“It’s so exciting to see that the new family activity trail is helping children to develop skills to care for their wellbeing and care for our forests! Playtime is so integral to children’s mental health, and they can also learn so many valuable lessons through play. The new Zog trail provides an excellent opportunity for children to get out in nature and to learn all the lessons that little dragons need to know!

“We are very excited to be working with Magic Light Pictures again and are looking forward to families having a new and exciting reason to visit the forest throughout the year.”

Alex Sanson, Brand Manager at Magic Light says:

“Forestry England sites offer the perfect classroom for budding little dragons. The new Zog trails offer a great opportunity to young explorers to learn about all the wonderful ways our forests can look after us and how we can look after them. The AR app adds a fun extra element so that children can explore the character, the story and the forest in a new way”

Jon Meggitt, CEO at Arcade says:

“Several of us at Arcade have young children and know first-hand just how much Zog means to them. Bringing him and his friends to life in magical AR, and giving families even more reasons to get out into forests across the country, has been one of the most exciting and rewarding projects we have worked on. We’re very proud of the result and can’t wait to see all the little dragons earning their golden stars just like Zog!”

Further details of trails, app and free downloadable activity sheets are available from www.forestryengland.uk/zog