Get lost in Nature

I’m boooooooored

Bear with, we’re going to get back to that title in a minute with this Sundays musings.

One of the core principles of forest school is “nature” itself.

It seems kind of obvious right? But what does it mean for our kiddos at forest school?
Nature offers endless possibilities for learning, exploration, and adventure, and this week, we did things a little bit differently.

Through our sessions, children are encouraged to engage with their surroundings through hands-on experiences such as building shelters, building natural bird feeders, using natural materials, getting to know their different plants and trees, making natural paint and more.

Nature is not just about providing an engaging learning environment, but it can also support our physical and mental well-being.

It’s well known that spending time in nature can reduce stress and anxiety levels, improve concentration and creativity, and increase overall happiness, and it’s something we are starting to see in some of our children at our weekly forest school sessions.

However, this Sundays musings, aren’t about any of that. Rather, this is about a bit of an experiment I did with some of our classes that visited Mrs Owl’s forest school with Kids Adventurist this week.

I didn’t set anything up.

Whaaaaaaat? But what did the kids do?????

I asked the children at the end of the session what was different at forest school this week and one quickly piped up “there wasn’t any activities to do.”

Before I could even reply, responses came from the rest of the class “we made dens, created bug hotels, made nests, built a lead tower, designed a crown of leaves and twigs, and built a boat!”

They used their imaginations. They used natural materials. They explored and discovered with only what was in front of them.

And that’s what forest school is all about - allowing children the freedom to explore, create and learn in a natural environment without being constrained by structured activities.

This type of unstructured learning allows for creativity, problem-solving skills, and independence to flourish and of course team work and communication.

More importantly, these sessions promote a deep connection with nature, understanding that resources are limited, that we can only use what’s avaialable to us, helping to foster a sense of responsibility towards our environment.

At forest school, we are not teachers. We are there to help support and guide our kiddos with life skills that will stay with our children as they grow. We are helping to guide them to become stewards of our environment, innovative thinkers and confident individuals.

It’s amazing what children can achieve when given the freedom to explore nature on their own terms.

But what about you? I assume none of the children are reading this so for adults, go get lost outside. Take nothing with you, go play in the woods, go climb a tree, build a den, disconnect from digital world for 30 minutes and reconnect with what’s in front of you. Take this as a reminder to slow down, observe your surroundings and appreciate the simple things In life. Sit under a tree and just listen.

For Kids Adventurist, we’re going to continue to embrace the natural world around us, and allow ourselves the freedom to dream.

What about you?