Yesterday, my daughter and I went on a lovely walk. We walked down to a local park, into the forest, and down to the creek, where we sat for half an hour, simply watching the deep, green water. A cottonwood leaf floated by in the current, and we talked about how the water moves quietly and powerfully underneath the surface. We jumped on rocks and we climbed a big boulder. All in all, we were out for about 4 hours, just walking and smelling the fall leaves and watching the water on a beautiful November day.
The morning inspired me to think more about forest kindergarten. It’s an idea that is currently popular in Europe. The forest kindergarten one is a simple one: children spend the morning or the entire day outdoors for their kindergarten year. The curriculum is guided by the seasons. The day is not full of structured lessons, but it is guided by the children’s explorations. For example, a wet day might be a good one to investigate what people would do in the rain long ago, to sit down and felt some wool, maybe even a day to make a wool hat out of felt. For younger children who participate in an early childhood program that is outdoors, the children may have a small gazebo where they nap, still outside.
Why is the idea of forest kindergarten growing in popularity? In North America, books like Richard Louv’s Last Child In the Woods have stirred up concern about the fact that children are not experiencing nearby nature. Our children are no longer playing in local vacant lots, ravines, and parks. We’re afraid that they’ll be hurt, and the draw of the television and the computer have become so strong that it’s easier for kids to stay inside. When they do go outdoors, it’s to structured sports activities, not free exploration in the forest.
An entire generation of children is growing up without frequent contact with nature. If this is the generation that is to transform the world into a more sustainable place, why would they care? Instead, they are indoors. As a response to this nature deficit, parents are beginning to create forest kindergartens so that their children have a deep and rich opportunity to explore, at least for a little while.
Now, I value reading and math, but I also value that inexpressible feeling of peace that I get when I walk into a forest. I grieve to think that our children may miss out on this experience. I’d register my child in forest kindergarten, if one existed. Would you?