Benefits of Forest School and Outdoor Education

Become Stewards of our Earth: Children who deeply experience nature grow into “Earth stewards” - this means they will respect and defend our planet fiercely, protecting it for future generations.

Empathy: Forest school supports the development of empathy through creating an environment where all members of the group are equal, and encouraging children to talk to each other about how they feel.

Healthy Habits: By spending time outdoors from a young age, children can internalize these habits early on in their lives which can help them become healthier adults with a greater appreciation of the outdoors.

Improved learning: Children with problem-solving skills can better collaborate and benefit from emotional resilience and better cognitive performance.

Less illness: Children who school outdoors spend less time in dry, recycled air which can allow Covid, flu virus, and common colds to easily spread among the children.

More Mindful: By spending more time in nature, looking at the beauty, and smelling the fresh air, children who learn outdoors benefit from nature’s calming effect, are more mindful, and experience decreased anxiety.

So, what are some of the ways that outdoor play – and climbing trees – enhance children’s skills?

Children use balance and core strength to stay upright. The unpredictability of the terrain of our extensive woodland trails asks something not required of them when walking down hallways or on sidewalks. 

It gives various opportunities for sensory experiences. Teachers use guiding questions such as: What do you notice? How does it feel? What do you hear?

Children collaborate and learn teamwork. Children work with peers as they build forts using sticks and branches, move natural objects, or solve problems such as creating projects with outdoor materials.

Students learn to regulate how much force is needed to complete a task. From playing tag without hurting another child or holding something fragile with appropriate gentleness, children learn to regulate their body’s force -working outdoors, such as digging in the dirt, or pulling a wagon with heavy rocks or pails filled with stones or shells, activates this sense.

Climbing trees requires motor skills, problem-solving, patience, judgment, and persistence. Whether it’s a child climbing to the top, or one who is happy to hang from a branch with their feet inches from the ground, the thrill is theirs for the taking. Adults can then inquire with children such things as:
What is wonderful about trees? What do we need to be careful or mindful of as we play? How will we stay safe?