Wayfarers Outdoors
'Going to the woods is going home.' (John Muir)
Learning and living in nature
Children and Knives
One of the key tenets of forest school is allowing children to learn through taking risks. For many years this was misconstrued as children running amok in woodlands with fire and knives. Fortunately, there has been a slow and continuing enlightenment and many more people have grasped the concepts of managed exposure to risk being a good way . . .
The Case for Abandoning Playground Equipment in Favour of Child Invention
Parents and grandparents will be familiar with the plea ‘Can we go to the playground? If you’re like me, most likely you’ve spent time pushing swings and holding a hand or offering support as your child explores the climbing frame and slide. You’ll also have sat on a bench and watched your children play without your input. This is not an . . .
If You go Down to the Woods Today
Finding fascinating things that may be disgusting to some
Long, long ago, when I used row on the rivers around the west of England, it wasn’t uncommon to find unpleasant things floating in the water. At that time I coached a series of youth crews, all determined as well as being full of the high spirits of sporting teenagers. Whenever we passed by one of these unpleasantnesses there was nothing that . . .
What About the Grass?
Diminishing child friendly green spaces and what we can do about this
In 2012 the British government scrapped minimum requirements for outside ‘game playing field’ space in schools. Previously for primary schools, the stipulated ratio ranged from 25 square metres a child in schools with fewer than 200 pupils to 42 square metres per child in schools with greater numbers of children. The new requirement, compels . . .
Awfully Wet Weather and the Great Badger House Discovery
It was wet, very wet, and cold. Despite this, the weather was in no way severe. The temperature was +3 C and although the rain was heaving down, there was no wind. Often parents worry about what seems to be a gung-ho attitude to continuing forest school in ‘bad’ weather. Of course, if one is properly dressed there is no really bad weather . . .
The Story of James' Log
To those looking in on forest school it can seem very random. Some children may be engaged in an offered task, others may be playing, while others will have reached the stage that pretty much all reach eventually: self-motivated learning. This is known by many names: learning through play, discovery play, child-centred learning to name a few. . . .
Posted in: educationforest schoolindependent learningnature playoutdoor learningsciencewayfarers forest school
Into the Woods
It was a chill February morning; a watery sun sent faint rays to the woodland floor and across the tarp laid out for us all to sit on. This was the first session of forest school for a group of twelve three and four year olds. As small groups of boys and girls, wrapped up in coats, hats and waterproofs appeared I asked each child to get . . .
Cover image credit: http://image: Wayfarers Outdoors
