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Forest School Activities

Types of Play

Forest School Activities

 

 

Based on a lecture presented by Louise Jupp some other activities in a forest school setting includes:

hunting and gathering

build home for insects using loose parts

 

create mandalas using loose parts from nature





create journey sticks

 

build homes for fairies using loose parts from nature-link for image





create art using loose parts from nature



storytelling



balance on log and tree stumps

climb trees

The screenshots on this blog are from Forest School Canada 

Risks in Forest School

Health and Safety

Many of the possible activities within a Forest School may be perceived as risky, such as tree climbing, using tools and the fire. It was important therefore that parents and teachers were aware of the activities that were planned and had the correct guidance for supporting us to enabling the children to undertake the activities with minimal risk. A ‘session’ risk assessment was undertaken before each session, which focused on tree canopy, shrub and ground level risks. It was also important that parents were prepared for the children to have a few minor bumps and scrapes, as a natural part of becoming more aware of potential risks and their own limitations. 

 

The Document above was screenshot from Forest School Bredon

 

 

The Document is a screenshot taken from Forest School Canada

 





 

 

Theorist and Forest School

John Dewy   "believed that children should learn from doing. He recommended that education should involve real life materials and experiences and that education should encourage experimentation and independent thinking. He believed that education should be both active and interactive and must involve the social world of the child and the community"-Norfolk

Lev Vygotsky "theory of social constructivism is that "knowledge is constructed through social interaction" -umanitoba.ca.

 

 

 

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Jerome Bruner's term "scaffolding refers to the steps taken to reduce the degree of freedom in carrying out some task so that the child can concentrate on the difficult skill she is in the process of acquiring" (Bruner, 1978, p. 19). "Scaffolding involves helpful, structured interaction between an adult and a child with the aim of helping the child achieve a specific goal." 

The content on this blog was copied from my blog Co-construction of Knowledge. Please refer to my other blog about social constructivism http://myrasiddz14.blogspot.ca

Learning Approaches In Forest School

 

 

 

 

The following screenshots were taken from Forest School Canada Document

 

The Role of The Child

The "child's day begins with those first sensual experiences of the natural world. The sounds of the birds and other forest creatures, the crunch of snow or branches underfoot, and the whistle of the wind in the trees; the first view of the meeting place, the sight of a bird in flight, the blue or overcast sky overhead; the feeling of cold air, the sun’s warm rays, or the touch of pine boughs on skin; the smell of the trees, the earth, and sometimes a fire; sometimes they can even taste those smells as the wind brings them to the group. These sensual experiences create anticipation of the day ahead."

Group meeting  where children are able to bonds together and gives voice to their first impressions and any ideas that might lead to unforeseen adventures.

Children become familiar with nature/natural environment

Child-led pedagogy where children will lead themselves and/or the group at large.

Children bring their own personalities, their own experiences, and their own stories to the group


Interview link with educators about what children do in a forest school setting.





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The Child's Role- "Children have the time and space for play that is child-initiated and child led. The leader suggests activities but children can follow their own agenda. Natural resources are used together with the children’s interests to stimulate imaginative, creative and investigative activities. These activities help children to take risks safely and be responsible, take care of themselves and others. The sessions have structure and there is a break for a shared snack sitting in the log circle when there is time to reflect. Children learn to use tools for a purpose. They may whittle sticks, climb trees, collect things, study wildlife, listen to the birds, build dens and help light fires. Later in the sessions they may cook on the fire."

The Role of The Forest School Educator

Forest School Canada
Educators in a forest school setting enjoy being in natural places and working with children. They believe in play-based learning in the outdoors. According to Forest School Canada

"A Forest and Nature School educator wears many hats. They slip seamlessly from playmate to researcher, at times actively participating in her students’ exploration, while at other times maintaining a distance to listen and observe, and at other times stepping in as site and risk manager. They believe in the importance—and the joy!—of not simply permitting but encouraging children to get dirty and wet in order to experience a sense of connection to place, and to fall down in order to experience a sense of accomplishment when they get back up, or trust in a peer when they are helped back up."

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The document "Forest and Nature School in Canada: A Head, Heart, Hands Approach to Learning" states that  the role of the educator in a forest school includes

Sparking Engagement: By modeling enthusiasm for nature play, the educator encourages children who might be nervous or new to outdoor play. Forest and Nature School educators act as a creative spark for the group, encouraging the growth of new  ideas by making available to the children materials, resources, and experiences that expand their creative, imaginative, and exploratory play. An educator might bring a personal story that sends the children off into stories of their own or ask a question that encourages the children to look more deeply into something thatthey have found.

Observing: Once the children are engaged in exploration, the educator steps back to give the children space to play and explore. This is an opportunity to become an observer, watching the children’s interactions with each other and the site, collecting and documenting these experiences, and using this knowledge to enhance future outdoor learning.

Learning Alongside Children: The educator gets dirty, explores,creates, builds, learns, gains knowledge, celebrates alongside the children they work with.

Staying Safe: During Forest and Nature School, the educator’s role is to make sure the group is physically safe and comfortable. The children need to dress well for the weather and stay warm and dry throughout the day. The educator also assesses the overall safety of the site and the risk management required for specific activities, which can change from day to day, in collaboration with the children they work with.

Creating Connections: The educator works to create community with thechildren, the parents, the place, and the community at large and works with the children to help them through conflicts and discussions that arise.Before and during the group’s visit to a site, the educator works with staff and students to assess the risk, ecological sensitivity, and play value of the site. Forest and Nature School educators choose rich natural places where the children can engage with loose parts and with natural features that engage the imagination and promote the children’s physical and social development. They also act as stewards of the place, conscious of the group’s interactions with it and their impact on it over time.

Educators Role- "The child-led nature of Forest School encourages children to make their own

decision about what activities they will engage in. The adults are very much in a

facilitating, supporting and observing role. A key function was for adults to

model skills and behaviours, rather than telling the children what to do, thus

allowing the children’s curiosity to draw them into an activity. Certain activities

such as tree climbing and tool use required specific adult ratios to be safe,

however, it was important that this adult presence was unobtrusive to the

children. A vital role for the teachers and Forest School Leaders was to step

back and observe individual children, this allowed one to assess children’s

learning dispositions, their level of understanding, where their natural interest lie

and how a child could be moved and challenged further. Time and space, within

the Forest School approach allowed effective observation to happen"

 

Benefits of Forest School

  Wattyler Education- Children in a Forest School setting showed improvements in

• Increased self-esteem and self-confidence
• Improved social skills
• The development of language and communication
• Improved physical motor skills
• Improved motivation and concentration
• Increased knowledge and understanding
• New perspectives for all involved

Forest School Canada - The benefit of children being in a Forest School includes the following:

• Improves health (environmental, physical, emotional, mental)
• Increases understanding of and appreciation for nature
• Augments ecological literacy
• Makes additional resources available for managing difficult behaviours
• Accommodates multiple learning styles
• Affordable and community-enhancing way to deal with school space issues
• Promotes safe risk-taking, and reduces harmful and hazardous behaviours
• Creates sustainable and healthy communities
• Encourages problem-solving skills
• Improves communication skills
• Creates engaged and passionate learners
• Supports creative and imaginative thinking
• Empowers learners
• Increases “school readiness” (when children transition into traditional school environments)
• Provides greater concentration skills
• Students experience fewer sick days

The Canadian Forest School Movement- Benefits for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD.

In the outdoor setting there are any walls and the sounds do not bounce off to make it loud. This prevents children with Autism Spectrum Disorder from being  over stimulated children; therefore they do better. "In addition, individuals with hyper-activity also benefit from fully expending their energy so that learning patterns are not interrupted. Children in an FS can often walk away from situations; [they can] take a breath or take time away if they are getting overwhelmed. With four walls, theycan’t do that as easily because [learners walking out of a classroom] are harder to supervise. People think it would be harder to supervise [learners] outdoors, but I think it is easier [outdoors] to manage those behaviours."

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The benefits of children being in a forest school setting creates opportunities for them improvement their problem solving skills, enjoy, achieve, be healthy, make a positive contribution while staying safe- Forest School Training (There is an in-depth explanation of these benefits on the website)

The following link in for the image below: