6 Benefits of Forest School and Outdoor Learning

https://www.manorhouseforestschool.co.uk/level-1-award-in-outdoor-learning/

Forest School is based on a Scandinavian concept of embracing the outdoors, giving children and adults a wonderful opportunity to enjoy being outdoors in nature, all year round in a safe, secure woodland environment.

Advances in technology has played a big part in the decline of outdoor play. Many children sadly don’t play outdoors anymore, which is affecting their speech and language, and ability to ‘talk’ to each other. Their development is suffering and they’re disconnecting from nature. 

Our children are the future guardians of our planet…we need to inspire them to protect it!

Forest School not only helps children to reconnect with nature but it has many other benefits. Here are 6 benefits of forest school and outdoor learning:

1) Playing outside gives children vital skills to learn about themselves. Forest School teaches children how to manage risk, how to interact and communicate with others. How to behave and make the right decisions, and gives them a passion and consideration for nature 

2) Boosts children’s confidence and develops their self-esteem. Bug hunting, scavenger hunts, tree climbing, den building, working with tools, exploring animal homes and habitats, fire circle and outdoor cooking & tree identification are examples of hands-on activities which help boost children’s confidence & develops their self-esteem.

3) Children understand how to communicate with each other to work in a team and to manage their emotional intelligence. Forest School inspires children’s creativity and helps their imagination grow. 

4) Being outdoors in the woodland has a calming influence and can bring out the best in most of us. At Manor House Forest School we’ve seen a significant improvement in children’s mental health and well-being!

5) The benefits of their time at forest school have been seen back in the classroom. Forest School experiences can be successfully linked to cross-curricular learning and academic teaching. At Manor House Forest School schools can request subjects such as maths, literacy, science, geography, art and music to be included into our session planning. With regular weekly sessions Forest School can help engage reluctant learners, encourages children to learn, and become more absorbed in their schoolwork.

6) Forest School is particularly effective for children with S.E.N.D. The sensory nature of the woodland enables children with intellectual disabilities, autistic spectrum continuum, communication difficulties and emotional/behaviour challenges associated with their complex disabilities to relax and thrive in a familiar place with no walls or doors. Forest School provides an ideal vehicle for a sensory environment, and with our accessible site, we also see children with physical disabilities enjoying forest school experiences.

At Manor House Forest School we’ve embraced the concept of forest school since opening in 2011 and have seen a big increase in schools weaving it into their school day and making it part of the curriculum. Primary and secondary schools’ book one off or weekly sessions to suit their class groups. Sessions are typically 4 hours in which children take part in activities planned and guided by fully qualified forest school practitioners. 

Over the past few years, we’ve seen an increase in schools developing their own grounds to continue the forest school education back in their own setting, and make it accessible for all their children. Outdoor space is now more valued as a healthier, stress reducing & holistic learning environment, particularly since lockdown. Manor House Forest School have also trained 100’s of teaching staff to gain a nationally recognised qualification such as the

Level 1 Award in Outdoor Learning or the Level 3 Certificate in Leading Forest School enabling educators to make the benefits of Forest School accessible to more children in Kent. 

The ‘Forest School’ approach is designed to remove a child from an environment where they are often expected to ‘sit and do’ in a traditional teaching and learning style. This typical classroom environment can, for some children, be a suffocating setting for learning as they can struggle to access what is taking place for a host of reasons. So, by removing that child from their typical classroom environment and placing them at the centre of their own learning it gives the child opportunity to drive their own learning forward. Here is “How to Maximise Outdoor Learning” to bring these opportunities to children in your school.