Forest School - What Is It And Why Do We Love It?

Follow a winding dirt path towards the heart of the woods, surrounded by greenery, scampering squirrels and dappled sunlight and eventually you'll find a wonderful hidden activity centre for little ones. Sounds somewhat different from typical play-groups right? When I came across an advert for baby ‘stay and play forest school’, I eagerly signed my one year old up and have since found it to be such an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

What is Forest School?

Picture a welcoming campfire (child-safe), an imaginative mud kitchen, bug hunting tools, and a variety of sensory activities laid out across the forest floor. At our location there were lots of beautiful stacking and counting toys made of natural wood, and a crafting station featuring other nature based materials. Forest School is designed to promote learning, exploration and curiosity through child-led outdoor play with support of a trained practitioner. Did you ever go to Scouts or Brownies, or do you just love nature? If so then this is right up your alley. The experience isn’t meant to completely replace traditional learning, but rather complement it, with the practice stemming from Scandinavia where the great outdoors is deep seated within the culture.

How was our experience?

This Saturday was our second time attending and on this occasion there were multiple other babies close in age to our little girl - exactly what we hoped for when arriving. It was actually the first time we had ever seen her up close and personal with other babies! She definitely has confidence.. she reached out and ran her fingers through the curly hair of another little boy when he came over and joined her at the play frog pond. Such a bold move on her part, I was quite surprised!

It was fascinating to see her observing and interacting with other little ones all while being outside in the open, no closed rooms or potentially overstimulating music like you might expect at traditional playgroups. She was free to toddle around as she pleased, it was all free rein and child led which is an approach I really love. She particularly loved the play pond which included little plastic fish and frogs, complete with realistic lily pads and brightly coloured flowers. I could tell she was very satisfied splashing about with the net, making a wet mess to her hearts content.

Dad also had a lot more fun than I think he anticipated, particularly with the bug hunting tools. Armed with a bug magnifier box and an intrepid desire to find spiders, off into the depths of the woods he would go, scouring across the activity area parameters desperate to uncover critters. There would be no sign of him for a while, then all of a sudden he would appear rushing through the trees with a child like excitement to share his findings. My husband often mockingly describes me as ‘Snow White’ or ‘Cinderella’ because I find joy in spotting birds or hedgehogs, any and all garden wildlife I'm fortunate enough to observe. And here we are, given the right catalyst we find that this man transforms into a full blown Bear Grylls!

Why choose it and what are the benefits?

Forest schools offer a unique educational experience by utilising the outdoor environment of the forest as a classroom. An interesting study by The New Economics Foundation (NEF) evaluated two forest schools to highlight how they can provide learning opportunities for children who typically do not do as well in the classroom. Key findings showed that forest schools improved children’s confidence, social skills, physical skills, motivation and communication. For example, the woodland tended to fascinate the children and they developed a keenness to participate and the ability to concentrate over longer periods of time. I definitely witnessed this with my own daughter, she was less ‘fussy’ and much more engrossed in play compared to when sat inside at home.

Just keep a close eye on your child if they are still a baby.. in our experience sticks, pebbles and crusty leaves represent a delicious snack for our little one!

Why are Forest Schools Important?

Now more than ever our lives are being spent mostly indoors being less connected to nature and our environment. Whenever we need anything, whether it be dinner ingredients, clothing, household items, it can all be ordered online. Or, a quick trip in the car bypassing the journey, arriving swiftly at a new destination. When boredom strikes the easiest thing to do is to switch on the tv or scroll through videos on our smartphones. Gardens are often treated as a space only utilised on the hottest summer days, or as a dumping ground for discarded furniture. Without realising we can spend hardly any time outside in nature and feel completely disconnected from our environment. In today’s world so focused on technology, the last thing I want is for my daughter to learn she can only seek enjoyment from devices and not appreciate the simple pleasures of being outdoors.

Since Covid, Forest schools are rising in popularity due to the growing awareness we have of the benefits of being outdoors and how it positively impacts our wellbeing and mental health. I would also like to highlight how the practice aligns seamlessly with core values in Islam, my personal faith, and could offer many benefits for other Muslim families.

As narrated in a hadith, Abu Sa’id al-Khudri r.a. reported that the Prophet s.a.w. said,

إِنَّ الدُّنْيَا حُلْوَةٌ خَضِرَةٌ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ مُسْتَخْلِفُكُمْ فِيهَا فَيَنْظُرُ كَيْفَ تَعْمَلُونَ

“The world is sweet and green, and verily Allah is going to install you as vicegerents in it in order to see how you act”.

(Sahih Muslim)

Based on this hadith, one of the many lessons we can extract is that the Prophet s.a.w. showed much care and concern towards the environment and aimed at caring and protecting it wholeheartedly. He reminds us how we are all vicegerents with a special duty to serve God. I believe the first step towards safeguarding our planet is to simply get outdoors with our families and learn to understand the land and creatures around us.

Furthermore, the Prophet (PBUH) explained that everything in the heavens and the earth glorifies God in ways we may never comprehend. From the rustling of autumn leaves, the singing of the birds and even the croaking of the frogs, there are all ways that nature praises its Creator. One hadith mentions that the Prophet (PBUH) forbade the killing of frogs saying: “their croaking is glorification (of God).” (Narrated by An-Nas’ai)

Reading and reflecting upon ahadith like this can help us to appreciate the natural world and the wildlife we share it with in a deeper more meaningful way.

God willing, through regular trips to our Saturday forest school and prioritising being outdoors in our daily life, I hope my daughter develops a love for our beautiful natural world, and that this connection is strengthened by her knowledge and love of our Creator.