At Seedlings Forest Education, we strive to foster a sense of community and belonging among children, where they can develop positive relationships with each other and the natural world. Our experienced educators lead activities and encourage children to take risks, problem-solve, and make their own choices.
We believe that by providing children with regular access to nature, they will develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the natural world, and learn to live in harmony with it. Our goal is to help children become responsible and respectful citizens of the earth.
What's a Forest School?
Forest schools are an increasingly popular approach to educating children that began over half a century ago in Scandinavia. They're also called nature or outdoor schools.
Forest education takes place in a natural outdoor environment. The focus is on hands-on, experiential learning, and the goal is to develop children's social, emotional, and physical well-being, as well as their cognitive skills. Students in a forest school program participate in nature-centric activities like building shelters, making arts and crafts from natural materials, and learning about plants and animals. The aim of the forest school is to provide an environment where children can learn to appreciate nature and develop self-confidence, independence, and a love of learning.
Here at Seedlings, we define forest/nature school or education as an educational ethos and practice that centres the land and the child-at-play. Children and educators build relationships with the land through regular and repeated access to the same outdoor space over an extended period of time. Educators support learning through a pedagogical framework that is rooted in place and play, directed and inspired by the child and driven by a process of inquiry.
Advantages for Your Child
Your child will not only play, learn, grow, explore, and notice the weekly changes in nature around them, they will also spend a large portion of the day engaged in the development of “hard skills” like fire-tending, cooking over the fire, shelter building, tracking, map and compass use, and tool use.
Through hands-on experiences driven by their own curiosity and interests--and the needs of the Seedlings community--they will learn about the fruits of labour, the power of perseverance, the land and animals around us, themselves, and each other. There will be a strong focus on safety and sustainability, with skills and tools being introduced based on season and interest.
Year-Round Outdoor Adventure
Here at Seedlings, we firmly believe there's no such thing as bad weather–just unsuitable clothing. A little rain shouldn't result in a child being cooped up indoors all day! We love splashing in puddles and playing in the snow as much as we love jumping in autumn leaves and basking in the summer sun. Our Parent Manual offers a comprehensive gear guide for making sure your kiddo is properly equipped for adventures in nature any day of the year.
Learning Approach
Nature programs promote emergent and experiential learning, providing child-initiated, play-based experiences in the natural world that lead to individualized learning. As a result, direct instruction in a nature-based program is limited. The following practices relate to the development of a child-focused curriculum in a nature-based setting:
- • Children's interests and abilities direct learning opportunities and assessment.
- • Teachers emphasize opportunities for individualized learning across learning environments.
- • Children's inquiry is used to encourage higher-order thinking; the inquiry process continues as long as interest remains.
- • Teachers provide a daily routine that allows for flexibility.