Acerca de
Forest Kindergarten
vs.
Outdoor Programs
What makes Forest School different to other forms of outdoor education?
– such as outward-bound days, general outdoor lessons, bushcraft workshops or groups such as scouts – is that practitioners adhere to six guiding principles which are:
1. Sessions are delivered on a long-term basis.
2. Sessions should be risk-aware, not risk-averse.
3. Forest Kindergarten is invested in holistic development of the participants.
4. Forest Kindergarten should take place in a natural wooded environment where possible.
5. Forest Kindergarten should be run by qualified Forest School practitioners.
6. Forest Kindergarten is learner-centred with learner-based outcomes.
Our Philosophy
Our philosophy emphasizes several major themes:
1. promoting child’s individual empowerment, self-awareness and group bonding.
2. continuously model respect for all living beings and search for ways in which to minimize our impact on their ecosystem.
3. assist the children lifelong learning skills and strategies, like problem solving, risk awareness, risk assessment and facing challenges in a safe environment.
4. believe that there is great therapeutic value in just “being” outdoors, rather than always “doing” in the outdoors. This therapeutic benefit is important to young children as they learn positive ways in which to manage their emotions.
5. Being in nature also leads to higher levels of cooperation and teamwork resulting in building positive social skills and supports peer-to-peer communication.