Forest schools

Forest schools provide Local Authority Schools to take the children outside to learn. This is a target for schools as it is part of the Foundation Phase Curriculum. Forest schools are woodland areas where the children are taken from school and encouraged to explore and play outside. According to forestschoolwales.org.uk "current experience of forest school with nursery children is showing increased self-confidence in the children".

Children in a shelter they have created
Image Reference: http://out2playbristol.wordpress.com/category/forest-school/

Many activities are available at forest schools and there are activities such as building shelters that work on teamwork with the children but also activities that enhance an indivdual child's skills such as lighting fires and tool skills. Also after every session the children will each take something to encourage interest in their parents. This allows them to reflect on what they have done throughout the day and involve their parents in their learning of the outdoors (www.forestschools.com, 2014).

The benefits to forest school are that the children can experience the outdoors first hand they are not in a classroom watching videos of what they could do outdoors. They can gain valuable skills from the experience such as how to work as part of a group and develop an understanding of nature and how they can effect it.

In my opinion if children are being taught to build shelters and fires in the forest they could try this unattended if they are living close to a forest, or even in their garden and wont understand why they are aloud to to it when they are taken to a forest but not when they are in the forest without friends and a teacher from school.