Yup, the other day I pulled into the parking lot of my daughters daycare and there was rain. Nothing cats and dogs howling winds – but it was definitely a rain. I sat in my car for a few minutes as I watched little feet puddle around in rain suits and rainboots. I smiled. This is it. This is what the early years should look like. This is what organic play outside should look like. The land needs children and children need the land. This, is why I chose forest school.
When I found out about forest schools as I was working late last year, I remember going to bed and waking my husband up. I was blown away. He groggily turned over and muttered mmh?? . I continued staring into space in the dark. I could not believe that there was a place children could learn outside, all day ,feel the cool breeze on their cheeks and be warmed by the rays of sunshine. So I begun digging and researching and asking questions. And I knew this is it. We were fortunate to have found a Forest school in our area where our daughter has attended for a month now. The 5 reasons (there are many more) that I chose Forest school and why I am an advocate of nature based learning are:
1.)Less screentime more greentime. When I look back at the previous daycare center – there was a parent-teacher “communication tool” we signed up for on enrollment. Now that I think about it though, I used to get low key irked by the constant bombardment throughout the day of pictures and updates of everything that our kids were up to. 10:30 – wet diaper – peed. 11:00 – ate 1/2 of their lunch – peas, chicken and mashed potatoes 12:51 – lying down for a nap. Do not get me wrong – technology is great but there is a fine line between where teachers loose the ability to effectively spend time with the kids as they have to constantly be documenting the moment to moment happenings of the kids. At the forest school – updates are given in person by the teacher as they hand the kid over which for me serves its purpose. There is a one google class where we get ALL the pictures at the end of the day. Key words – end of the day. Oh did I mention in the previous center, there was also a camera connected to every class ? All you had to do was open your phone app and you would be zoomed into the Live feed of your child sitting alone – talk about anxiety inducing devices! Unnecessary.
2.)There is no such thing as bad weather – only poor clothing. I remember learning about this Swedish concept from the book with the same title by Linda McGurk. You can listen in on our podcast conversation here .It is the idea that really the outdoors should be embraced in ALL seasons – winter, rain. It only takes the right gear and ATTITUDE. If you open the window and see snow and go like Oh no snow!! what are we going to do today? Guess how the kids will respond. But imagine once you open the window and shout yay snow – snow man or snow ball fight!!!
3.) Less worksheets more recess : I do not particularly care for worksheets. They are great teaching tools – I just feel they are limiting in their scope of teaching and I feel they teach learning through rote memorizing as opposed to actually understanding of concepts. Experiential learning – that is learning through experiences has been shown to be one of the most effective ways of long term retention of information. We remember things because we pay attention to them. We pay attention to the things we care about. My daughter has not come home with even one worksheet in the month she has been here, But she has come home with muddy hands and sand in her shoes and I am perfectly okay with that as opposed to “Good job stars” on a worksheet.”
4.) Risky messy play : One of the pictures I received one day, was of my daughter jumping in a mud puddle squealing in delight. There was another one of a boy on top of a rock etc. etc. None of the “put that stick down,” language or “you are going to fall – please get down.” Children are more capable, confident and competent than we choose to give them credit for. Often times it is our own anxiety that hinders them from reaching their highest ability. So forest school offers risky yet supervised play – because again there are hazards. For the forest school practitioners, they are trained in the language to use that does not stifle a Childs desire to want to scale a wall, whittle wood or start a bonfire. Play is the work of a child. Its how they make sense of the world when there is internal or external conflict around them.
5.) Daycare boogers versus seasonal allergies versus actual infection: Before a child gets to age 5, they will have more running noses than you can count with two hands. Its just the way it is – their immune system is trying to get itself together! That will translate to sneezes and occasional coughs. Granted we are in a pandemic so the levels of surveillance must be heightened, what I have found though at the forest school is that the forest school practitioners (teachers) exercise good judgment as far as whether a kid is just having regular running nose or actually needs to stay home and rest.
