Thursday 7th October, 2021

There are many benefits of outdoor learning and learning outside of the conventional classroom for children. These include:

• Enabling reasonable risk-taking

• Encouraging child-led and spontaneous play

• Improving physical skills and healthy development

• Increasing motivation and concentration in children

• Supporting children with behavioural challenges, naturally

• Supporting Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)

• Helping to reduce stress and protecting the psychological wellbeing of children

• Supporting children with additional needs and meeting individual sensory needs

• Giving children the power of choice and opportunity to express their adventurous needs

• Allowing children to make their own decisions, problem solve, and reflect on experiences

• Encouraging ownership and pride in the local environment, and improving relationships with, and understanding of, the natural world

The wider impacts of outdoor learning in a natural environment are that it gives practitioners a new perspective, and understanding, of the children they support. The children also take the new learning and experiences home with them and share it with their family, which could inspire families to spend more time together in nature.

Children with additional needs

While Forest School can bring positive benefits to those with additional needs, the degree to which it does greatly depends on the individual and what their specific needs and circumstances are. What is important is being aware of learners needs to ensure that any challenges are achievable and that our practice and the space we are using is inclusive.

Think of it as a journey that you are taking your children on. When they walk into the woods, they are walking into a different learning environment. By developing a good understanding of all our children’s different learning needs, we can plan activities that will engage them and give them opportunities to learn and achieve. If this is done sensitively, we can take away the impact of identified disabilities and allow the individuals’ strengths and capabilities to come out. On the other hand, if we are not sensitive in our approach, we run the risk of completely causing the opposite outcome.

Forest School is a wonderful place to learn new skills and reinforce existing ones. The child-led approach promotes choice and independence. New skills could include tree and nature identification, craft skills, den building, knot tying, etc. The only limit to what can be included in our Forest School sessions are the needs of the learners and the creativity of the Forest School leader…

You can read more in our new short course Forest School and outdoor learning written by an experienced Forest School leader.