What is Forest and Nature School?

Forest and Nature School is learner centered, play based experiential learning outdoors.

It is a simple idea with profoundly transformative outcomes for learners and for humanity's relationship with education, with the Earth, with ourselves and one another.

The main thing most people know about Forest and Nature School is that it happens outdoors--as much as possible, in all kinds of weather, unless it is unsafe to be outdoors for any reason. This encourages a strong relationship with land, resilience and healthy habits of getting outdoors and moving throughout the rest of ones life, through positive associations. There is always somewhere to go to warm up, be it a building or a heated yurt or prospector's tent.

Instead of being competitive, Forest and Nature School is supportive of learners where they are at on any given day. The ratio of teachers/practitioners to learners is always low so there is ample opportunity to know their real needs, wants, and experiences, and facilitate learners in their learning and growth in whatever areas they consider most rewarding and needful.

Forest and Nature School encourages learners to stay within their 'growth' zone--a step outside the comfort zone, but not so far outside of comfort that they feel in any danger.

Risky play (whether that risk means coming out of your shell and talking in front of a group, or climbing a tree) is encouraged in forest and nature school as helping learners to stay in their growth zone, but kept within carefully regulated bounds. For instance, a forest and nature school may have a policy that you can only climb as high as you can reach with your hand from the ground; this way, if you do fall, there is much less risk of serious injury. Or you can only carry a stick around if it is less long than your arm--which reduces risk of injury to others.

Forest and Nature School promotes physical literacy in many ways, encouraging learners to have greater balance, dexterity and spatial awareness, as well as more skills in terms of safe and effective use of simple woodworking tools, starting fires, and generally navigating on the physical plane. This has important outcomes later in life--if a person never learns to walk safely outdoors on the ice, they may later in life slip and fall, for instance.

Forest and Nature School also makes space for limitless play and creativity. Learners are provided with the materials they need and desire to enhance their play--whether that is musical instruments, art supplies, rope, knives for whittling, materials for building, ingredients for cooking over the fire, etc. It embraces the philosophy, and the statistical truth, that our brains learn best when they are at play.