Why Forest School?

What is Forest School?

Forest School is a program that is child-led, place-based, and inquiry-driven. It supports emergent curriculum and risky play, and focuses on the develop of 6 relationships (land, power, trust, play, story, risk). Let’s explore each of these below.

• Child-led:

  Children are curious, capable and competent, and therefore are capable of leading their own learning through play. Knowledge is drawn out of the child through their own playfulness. Children are driven to learn through play and as such, learning is intrinsically motivated.

• Place-based:

  Children have repeated access to the same natural space and spend extended amounts of time getting to know it. This supports children in developing a reciprocal relationship with the land as they learn from it throughout the changing seasons. Children develop an understanding of themselves as a part of the natural world.

• Inquiry-driven:

  Learning is driven by inquiry. The role of the facilitator is to ask open-ended questions and foster inquiry rather than giving all the answers. Example: If a child asks a question, rather than give the answer, ask “what do you think?”

• Emergent Curriculum:

  In a Forest School setting, the curriculum emerges from the child, hence the term emergent curriculum. In other words, the child helps to develop his or her own programming simply by engaging in what they are drawn to. Facilitators observe and extend learning through offering activities, books, or materials that dive deeper into the child’s interests.

• Risky play:

  Risky play is thrilling and exciting play that children engage in when they test their physical limits during unstructured play outdoors. When kids engage in risky play, they are testing out their environment and determining what they’re comfortable with. Being able to recognize risk, experience risk and learn how to manage risk is an important part of healthy child development. It has been found through research that it can help develop a child’s self-confidence, resilience, executive functioning abilities and risk-management skills. It can even actually reduce the risk of injury as well.

  Because there are so many benefits to risky play, Forest School facilitators strive to co-assess risk with the children and work together to formulate a plan to manage it. Before an activity, the facilitators and children will talk about how the children think they can stay safe.

  Children are then provided with ample opportunities to challenge themselves physically and emotionally as they navigate the outdoors (i.e. crossing logs, climbing trees, pulling branches, collaborating on fort building etc.). 

• The 6 relationships:

  Please refer to the parent handbook on pg. 5 for detailed descriptions of each relationship.
  

What are the benefits?

• Emotional resilience:

  Children learn to assess, appreciate and take risk. They are provided with ample opportunities to practice making sensible, informed decisions about how to tackle the activities and experiences they encounter. Through trial and error children learn to deal with failure and develop the resilience to keep trying: a vital skill for future academics and life-long functioning.

• Fine & gross motor skills:

  Deep, whole-body play allows children to develop physically. As they move through the woodland they improve their stamina and gross motor skills. Using tools to make things, shelter-building, and ephemeral art helps them develop their fine motor skills.

• Social skills:

  Collaborating to cross a stream, build a fort or create a game builds confidence and self esteem in children. Children improve their social skills through communication and problem solving with their peers and supportive adults in a safe and caring environment.

• Ecological literacy:

  Repeated access to the same forest location throughout the seasons enables children to connect deeply to the changing of the seasons and associated life cycles. Children develop a relationship with the land and become its stewards.