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Forest Schools, Danish Style
Forest Schools originated in Sweden in the 1950's and spread to other countries, particularly Denmark where they have become an important part of the Danish early years programme.
In a typical Danish Forest School, young children from 3 years are taken into the forest for 4 hours each day of the week. They take no toys with them, but instead use only what the forest provides (and their imaginations) to develop their games. There is a primitive hut in the forest, which is used in extreme weather and where they eat their packed lunches and listen to stories. Activities are child led and fun, such as finding small animals or stomping in puddles. Because of high adult to child ratios, children can safely try out activities which are often considered too dangerous, such as climbing trees or lighting fires, and by dressing the children in good protective clothing, they are able to play freely, sitting and rummaging in mud and undergrowth. By setting children small manageable tasks at which they are unlikely to fail, and giving genuine praise, children's independence and confidence grows.
A Swedish scientific study found that children attending forest school kindergartens are far happier than children in ordinary town kindergartens. The 13 month study followed children from similar backgrounds in two different kindergartens, one in the centre of a city and the other out in the country.
The study concluded that children in the forest school are more balanced and socially capable, have fewer sick days; are more able to concentrate and have better co-ordination than the city nursery children.
The result showed the forest school children to be markedly better at concentrating than the city children. The primary reason appeared to be the greater opportunities for play in nature, so that children play for longer at a time, tending not to disturb each other as much as children in the city nursery. The study observed that where children were interrupted, they became irritable, their stress level rose, and their ability to concentrate fell. When they could not concentrate there was a clear tendency to selfish and inconsiderate behaviour and aggression. The forest school children were much more considerate towards each other.
The study also showed that the forest school children had 25% fewer sick days than the city children. One reason for this is that the air is nearly always better outside than indoors. Outside a child is not so exposed to virus and bacteria and not so likely to be infected by other children. Another reason may be that, since stress has been shown to have a negative effect on the immune system, high stress levels may be weakening the city children.
The forest school children, on the other hand are in a pleasant, natural, fun and less stressful environment.
Read about a typical day at the Secret Garden, one of the UK's first Scandinavian Style Nurseries here, reprinted with kind permission of nursery founder Cathy Bache.
