Outdoor Learning
Forest School
Forest School is an inspirational process that offers children and young people opportunities to achieve, develop confidence and self esteem, through hands-on learning experiences in an outdoor woodland environment.
Research has found that the benefits for young people of all backgrounds in attending Forest School are:-
- Increased self-confidence and self-esteem
- Development in social skills and awareness of their actions on others
- Increased language and communication skills
- A keenness to participate — motivation and concentration
- Improved stamina and gross and fine motor skills
- Development of respect for and interest in the natural environment
In an age where many children have few opportunities to be outdoors, it offers them a way to learn in a “classroom without walls” where they use the natural environment as a learning tool.
Children can enjoy the natural world in a safe and secure environment and can learn, play, explore and get close to nature. The children become independent, make their own choices, learn to take risks be imaginative, achieve small achievable tasks and to discover and learn about their world.
Activities
Activities include:-
- Den Building
- Fires and outdoor cooking
- Minibeast Hunts/ Treasure Hunts
- Making habitats for animals
- Tool work
- Natural artwork
- Sculpture
- Knot
