Final Thoughts... for nowLate Night Conversations One of the joys of research is working with brilliant people and spending 24 hours each day with them discussing the academical value of what you are studying. Think of it as a slumber party for nerds. During a late night conversation as we were housed at Mary Mackenzie’s beautiful domain we were discussing what we observed at the Forest Schools. WE got into a deep discussion on the pedagogical practices, the benefits, and how non-education people view education, in general. At one point Lucy stated, “Everybody thinks they can do school, they can teach, because they lived it, but there is so much more to it.” At this point I told her to wait a tick as I grabbed my computer so I could record the pure genius as it came from her mouth. (I know, I know, at what slumber party do you stop and take field notes… NERD!). She proceeded, “ As a non-education person I didn’t necessarily know the mountain I was climbing until I was on it [speaking of education]… the more I climb the more is see that it goes higher and higher.” She went on, “There are so many nuances that go into teaching for it to be successful. I just didn’t realize. I thought that it could be easy, but there is so much more to it. There are the theories or methods and the strategies to get to the end results. Everyone one thinks they can do it because they have done it [gone to school] but not just anyone can do this. This is really hard work.” Well said Lucy. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Mary stated, “Forest schools are great. It is the ultimate level, but outdoor education is what should be accessible for all. No matter how wonderful Forest Schools are, it cannot be accessed with the full intended ethos for all children, but outdoor learning can. You just need a space you can grow [build upon from a simple start] for the children to benefit from outdoor learning. You can focus on outdoor learning. Getting endorphins going. Key thing is to have staff that has bought into the concept.”
She then explained that, “There are Mud lovers and Mug huggers. Mud lovers, love to be outside and mug huggers are people who hug the mugs when they go outside and do not like to be there.” FYI for Forest Schools, you need Mud Lover, just in case it wasn’t clear. ;) It has been truly an adventure through the woods... I am sure there is more to come once we analyze the data. Seriously BEAUTIFUL views of the rural countryside of England only one hour out of London by train. Simply Breathtaking! Nurseries In England, nurseries are a big business. I don’t mean big business in a money grubbing way, but that child care is highly important and it is everywhere. Seriously, you cannot throw a rock without hitting a nursery, however, please don’t throw rocks, that is just not the way to make friends. Popularity of Nurseries in UK Anyway, everyone we spoke with either owns a nursery, wants to expand to two nurseries or has a relative who owns several nurseries. It seemed odd to me because in the States we have day cares or preschools, which are usually ran out of churches or synagogues or someone’s home. I think it is partly due to during the 1800’s, nannies and nurseries were part of life here in England (think Peter Pan, right?). I also think it has to do with funding. In the UK families are given funding for 15 hours worth of care a week for ages 3-5 and from the age of 2 if the family is underserved. Even though the experts we spoke with said it would be better if the families were fully funded by the government, they still are doing something right because at least a government is showing some support for early childhood care and education… They are the future, right? It seems insane not to provide care for your most important commodity. (By that I mean children, for those who weren’t getting my drift.) ;) Little Laura’s Nursery Little Laura’s Nursery’s Forest School is relatively new. Little Laura’s has been in operation since 2010. They have motto of it is a “home from home” way of operating. Children who attend this school are from the ages of 12 months to 5 years. They maintain the idea that children should expore their own world at their own pace with the guidance of adults through creativity, free play, and experimentation with outside play being essential to their learning experience. Location, location, location The location of Little Laura's Forest School was about 1/4 mile down a residential street. You can see this little nook in the bushes, that is how they enter their creative forest world. As soon as they duck under the branches they are immediately transported to another world. It is a small space, about two acres, but it is loaded with all sorts of nooks and spaces for imagination. Below you can see a fallen tree. the children refer to this as the pirate ship. They have loads of adventures in this space. Safety and Rules Far from the “free ranged” children that people assume is Forest School. There is no running around like a banshee. There is no one screaming and getting lost in the woods. These children are given boundaries, reasons for the boundaries and they accept them and know the consequences. They self-govern. When we were at the fire circle, a child walked through the center area and three children immediately told him he was breaking the rule. “You are supposed to walk AROUND the fire circle. If you go through the center, there could be a fire and you could fall in and get all burned up.” Ok, a bit graphic, but they know the rules, they know why they are in place and they help each other remember these rules. Giving them boundaries and relying on them to know the boundaries helps prepare them for autonomy. They are not just crazy small people running a muck… They are intelligent beings who have questions and want to explore and gain confidence in the process. Little Laura’s Property The building is charming as all get out. It used to be an old primary school and they turned it into a home for the children. The Forest School has just been approved by the neighboring area after copious checks on environmental impacts. They have only been a Forest School or “Forest School inspired” school for 4 months. They have created paths and little nooks and crannies to play in on a 3 acre space nestled in the neighborhood about a ¼ mile from the physical location of the nursery. They have a fire circle and several spaces for play. The website to Little Laura’s is Check it out for yourself. Look at their learning goals, fine & gross motor skills, mathematical, literacy, understanding the world, social/emotional, and creative arts skills. They have it all right there for you to see. www.http//.lln.school/ Pig and Owl We were introduced to the pig and owl game. It is a sort of hide and seek game where the animals are hidden in the woods prior to the children arriving and they search for the critters as they work as a team. This helps with cooperative learning and vocabulary. Drawings One very important component of Little Laura’s is embracing the arts. From my perspective, they are allowing the children to document their experiences through their drawing and explain their thought process (BTW this is very similar to the Reggio Approach to learning). The teachers encourage them to draw and record what the children say. Here are several examples of their work. As you can see their thought process is detailed and each bit of the drawings have meaning to the children. I want you to also notice that they have no apprehension about using the whole paper. By the time children get to 1st grade, they rarely cover the full page without direct instruction to do so. Documentation Much like the Reggio Approach, the learning is documented rather than given a grade. It is about how much a child has grown, matured, and learned individually. On a regular basis the children’s work is documented and saved for the parents to see the progression from the beginning of the year to the end. This is far better and demonstrated true understand way more than an arbitrary A, B, or C. The Kids' Rules Check out these rules that the children collectively made for the Forest School. My favorite one is "Don't lick things." That is a good rule no matter where you are.
What was in the Barn Wow! This needed another day to process. The Forest School is one thing, this barn area is another. So while this barn is where drop off and pick up are each day, some children choose to stay in this location while up to 9 children can go to the Forest School location. In this barn they have a wide open door where the children can play outside anytime they like. Inside there is a Theatrical center, a engineering center, an artistic center, tables to work at, a kitchen space, and a reading nook. The children are not assigned seats, they can have the freedom to choose to go to any area they would like. The upstairs loft is for children who need extra developmental assistance. It is quiet up there and they can concentrate a lot easier. Outside Space This space was amazing! The children were able to play in a fenced in area complete with a mud kitchen and structures to climb on and enjoy the fresh air. The great thing is, that practically all day the barn door is open and if the children choose to go outside, they can. Literally, the door is open for them. So Many Choices To me, this facility is amazing. The children have the autonomy to explore to their hearts’ content. This is as close to the German kindergartens as I have seen. It is brilliant. Even if the children are not partaking in the Forest School adventure, they still have an environment that is dedicated to their curiosities and intelligence. Education in the Barn Lessons are facilitated but they are not (forgive my bluntness here) shoved down their thoughts as they are figuratively tied to a single working space and forced to fill out worksheet after worksheet. (Yeah, if you haven’t guessed it, I am NOT a fan of worksheets. Sure they have their purpose, but in small doses, NOT as a full on curriculum for hours every day. There are few humans who would respond well to a worksheet as opposed to hands-on learning or even an intelligent discussion.) But I digress, this is the type of learning where children can flourish. Side Bar (small rant)
I am often asked, why research this way of teaching. It sounds interesting an all, but how can you test on that ? <insert arrogant chuckle here> I begin by saying, well, first of all the countries that are employing these pedagogical practices are beating the US is all forms of testing, so maybe they are on to something. (That usually puts them back on their heals) Then I go for the juggler. I discuss how important it is to instill the love of learning, exploration and curiosity. Artists do it <insert their skeptical eyeroll here> and so do scientists. (That usually gets them… “oh, science… go on.” (now, it’s me rolling my eyes). Forest Schools and the Barnkids’ style of learning creates resilience. It teaching the students that, ok this didn’t work, so make a new plan… ok, that didn’t work what next? These are serious skills that we need in life. NO, you cannot take a test on these to compare results, but you can use these skill throughout life. -Hold out for rant- We have an exuberant amount of young adults who have mental illness, a lot of it stems from (what I believe, I am sure I can find data to back me up, but my current situation is not providing access to digital libraries) lack of play, free exploring, too much screen time, over planning, too much adult involvement. A lot of children in the US have the “helicopter” parent who, although well meaning, has prevented their child from failing, or even being bored, and now we have a bunch of young adults, breaking under the pressure of life and finding it difficult to cope. _Rant over_ Round House The outside of the round house just looks like a tent. Honestly, no big deal. But knowing how it was constructed, is actually the big deal. The children decided where to put it. They helped dig the holes for the main poles. I believe Mike fashioned the support beams. Then the children helped put on the tarp. But wait, there is more! On the inside they put in battery operated twinkle lights and hung pine cones for added festive decorations. It was so magical in there. As you can see, I was even caught up in the magic. (Plus it was warm in there). Digging Space As always, children love to dig… why, I have no idea, but I fancy myself as a rather good digger as well. They have two pits for the children to dig. They use real spades because the plastic ones 1) are bad for the environment, and 2) why not give them real tools to do their real work (remember, their play is their work). While we were there we hear a cry for help from one of the instructors. I scooted over there to find a child who she pulled from the muck, however the child’s boot was stuck four inches deep. With a schlooooooop! I was able to retrieve the boot and the child went on her marry way. Work Area The have a table space which is a log sliced in half. The day we visited the children were working on bird feeders to help the birds who might find it difficult to find food during the winter months. _side bar_ This is what I have been talking about. This small project creates a tiny spark in the young children to be stewards of nature. Goodness knows that nature has been taken advantage of in the past, so instilling in children to be keepers of this planet is such a good thing. Sorry, to all you testing fans, but you will not find that on any standardized test or rubric, but I think it is a very important lesson, none the less. However, what I noticed was the rich vocabulary that was encouraged as the children describe with it felt like to spread the lard over the pine cone and how it would help the environment. The round things the children are working on are tree trunk slices. They were cut from a fallen tree and then painted with chalkboard paint. The children use them as old timey slates for writing, drawing, and writing numbers. Here they are using them as a workspace. Fairy Doors Imagination at work. There were 5 random tiny doors placed around the space of the Forest School. The children let me by hand to each location. When asked what was behind the door, I was told of all sorts of creatures from fairies to small dragons. The doors opened to worlds beyond ours and the children each had details to add. It was like cooperative story telling. To throw in the educational value of this, they were expanding their vocabulary, using descriptive words and language. (yeah, you would not find that level of creativity from a worksheet, just saying) Movable Logs
OK, so you might think, "big deal logs, whatever!" However, out here in the Forest School, these are teaching tools. They work on shapes. The children construct the shapes, I imagine they also discuss spacial terms such as inside, on, by, near, around, outside, because they can actually, physically do those things around their constructions. With these logs the children also make things, like the shape of a house or design a path, or work on letters. But in the process the children work together, have deep conversations, are working on gross motor skills, and are keeping their imagination active. I would also believe that you could do physical math games as well. What do I mean, ok so .... two children in the square, plus three children in the triangle equals.... They become the objects to count... if you wanted to you could put in sticks or leaves. Dude, I got a million ideas... only ZERO worksheets, so yeah, there is that. What was out at the Forest School Let me describe to you the Forest School location. After the children literally run the ½ mile to the location through two picturesque fields there is the fire circle, a maze , the music center, the mud kitchen, the round house, the digging space, and the work area. Around the parameter where they were allowed to roam was a fence. The Fire Circle Once they were at the location, the first thing they did was sit around the fire circle (even though there was not a fire) on logs fashioned as seats. There they waited patiently for their morning snack of hot chocolate and a biscuit. The fire circle was their central meeting place. This is where each day began and ended. I guess the best thing to equate this to is the “carpet time” people have in their classroom. (It may be called morning meeting, or calendar time, but you get my drift.) The Maze When asking some of the children what their favorite area is at the Forest School they collectively said, “the maze!” Let me explain to you what the maze is. It is a large briar patch that has a series of tunnels cut into it just the right size for a half-pint human. It was truly adorable watching them as they used their imagination and drama skills to create a story of a family, as another group was pretending to have a veterinary clinic. But from the perspective of an adult who could not enter the area The Fence This fence was constructed by the children. They decided where it should go, the instructors put in main posts, and the children gathered fallen branches and wove them through to create these beautiful natural boundaries. The instructors said that within the first 5 minutes of explaining how to construct the fence, the children were able to successfully master the construction and engineering of the fence. Now, this might not be a hand turkey or a coloring sheet you might find in a “brick and mortar” preschool, but if you ask me, that is some serious functional artwork, engineering, collaboration, perseverance and higher level thinking (not to mention the fine and gross motor skills). So, for you skeptics, just think about all the benefits that comes from just this one activity. It sounds to me like a list of things the policy makers are always discussing. Music Center/Den The music center was an area the also had a fence constructed by the children. It also housed several items that the children could make percussion instruments from. They had sticks, and pots and pans, and old tree stumps. The children were excited to show us this area. At one point the music center turned into a pirate ship and Lucy had to abandon ship when it was time to leave. The good old Mud KitchenMud Kitchen
The mud kitchen, according to Mary Mackenzie, and who am I to go against anything this woman says, is one of the greatest things for children in Forest Schools. It allows their imagination to run wild. No, that is not a pot with dirt and water in it, thank you very much! It is a piping hot pot of lemon soup with herbs and spices. One child said as she offered me some soup, “Be careful, its hot. Don’t burn yourself.” And let me tell you, that was the best lemon soup I have ever tasted in my life! Well, that is enough for now. More to come.... PEACE! The first location that we visited was Barnkids. Barnkids is a children’s nursery and Forest school on a 70 acre property in Surrey, located near Chiddingford and Haslemere. For those map enthusiasts, it is about one hour and 15 minutes south of London. To give you an image, think the beautiful, green rolling hills of Kentucky, lined with fences, enclosing either fields speckled with horses or sheep. Ok, yeah, now you get it. The Property This property has several buildings, which is vastly different from the Forest Schools I visited in Germany, where they had a small shelter at the very most. Here, there are several buildings that house varying ages of children from infants to age five. The older children literally had a barn as their home base. The children whose families had elected for them participate in the Forest School start in the barn and make their way through two very large fields. I would say that this is at least a half a mile that they walk ( or in their case run) to the location of the Forest School area. This group of children were between the ages of 3 and 4. As soon as we sat down one child told me his name and explained why he was wearing an eye patch, how long he needs to wear it, and when it was going to be changed. Another child interrupted the optometry issues of the other to inform me that last night he fell down a rabbit hole. (Of course he did!) I asked him what he found, he said it the cutest British accent, “Peter Rabbit was down there, and a river, and Mike helped pull him out.” (Mike is one of the instructors at Barnkids). So, from the first 5 minutes of interaction with these small humans they devolved medical issues (sorry HIPPA) and their fanciful stories. It was all amazing! Side bar, Lucy who has a degree in Chemistry, has saved Manatees, has worked with the reproduction of dolphins, and runs the garden and naturalist center at Stono (so basically as super scientist) was beside herself. I have explained Forest Schools to her and she was all on board, but did not fully (and could not) appreciate the magnitude of impact it has on these children. She could not get enough, and I think some children adopted her as one of their own. I honestly, enjoyed watching a non-education major fully grasp what Forest Schools can offer to children and what they can learn from “playing” in the woods. BTW- it is a lot! If you are like me, you have heard of British food and thought, "oh, yeah, fish and chips, and blood pudding" but have not fully considered the fine hearty cuisine of England. Above you can see an adorable minced pie. This was the perfect sample size for a lovely pastry stuffed with raisins and spices... Honestly, not bad, but this little guy was small so the ratio of pastry to filling was perfect (lots of pastry). Oh, and you can see the beautiful Christmas tree at Mary's house with her lovely garden in the background. Supper (what most people from the US call Dinner)I grew up on a farm and we called the last meal of the day "supper" as do the English. So, yeah, basically I am a proper lady. But you probably guessed that already. For our first supper we had a proper English chicken roast with parsnips, carrots, potatoes and PEAS. Peas are a staple here, I honestly, thought that I hated peas, it turns out, I like them. Who knew? It was a delicious meal, served at a dinning room table with cloth napkins. I'm used to getting a PBJ sammy over the sink so this was extremely high class! Another meal we had for supper was "Cottage Pie." How can you get more English than that!!! It had minced meat (ground beef to you and I) potatoes and spices. The perfect thing to eat after a full day out in the woods. Lunch (sometimes called dinner)Yes, boys and girls, that is split pea soup with ham. Never in my life would I think that I would like split pea soup until now. It was delicious! Mary must be a miracle chef, because the only thing I ever associated split pea soup with was the movie the Exorcist. So, my expectations were pretty low, but wow! And it tasted mostly like my mom's good old ham and beans. So, if you get the chance, try something you never have before, you just might like it. Fish and Chips |
Lucy Davis Meet Lucy Davis, she is my research partner this go around. She maintains the Gardens at the Stono River Preserve and an all around science genius. This past year she has helped me do so much at the Stono River Preserve and now she is here seeing Forest Schools first hand and truly gets to understand why I love this type of schooling so much! |
Mary MacKenzie This beautiful lady is truly amazing! I met her at the Play Conference in Clemson and it was an instant match. We both have a love of Forest Schools, but she is from England and has actual contact with several schools there since she was the "Prime Minister of Awesome at Early Childhood." OK, that was not her official title, but it should have been. This lady is brilliant! |
I am an Associate Professor at the College of Charleston and a former public school teacher of 15 years, This blog is my documentation of a journey through Germany the Netherlands, and now England, investigating Forest Schools and how the arts are infused in their daily curriculum.
A side bar- please forgive any misspellings or grammar errors. I am writing late at night after long days of discovery.
DANKE!!!!