Forest School

The children explore our local environment at Forest School where they are given time and space to practice skills they wish to learn and ideas that interest them. They join in play with others, whether directly or indirectly such as playing alongside another child, which engages them imaginatively and creatively in the play process. Role play on both large and small scales are easily provided at Forest School and are highly beneficial for this area of effective learning. Through using child led play, activities are naturally age and stage appropriate to the child’s development, yet challenging. This allows them to develop confidence, self esteem and resilience as they will strive for something they consider to be actually achievable and not just told that it is.

At Forest School sensory play is an important part of learning for young children as through their senses they make sense of the world around them and begin to explore naturally. By providing this type of opportunity children will learn more about the world around them in a natural way, through their senses and become connected to it, holding an affection for it long into their futures.

Children are given the opportunity to explore using loose parts such as sticks and leaves to play with that can be anything, to anybody, in any way. For example a toy car has one use, but a stick… well a stick can be a wand, a fishing rod, a steering wheel, a building material, a boat, a helpful aid, an artistic resource, a bow and arrow, and I could go on! These open ended opportunities are excellent to help children express themselves and use their imagination.

Children will often refer their play to what they already know and tend to re-enact experiences they have had at home, read in books or seen on TV but to name a few. Play is a great way that displays how children are feeling, understanding, seeing, interpreting and making sense of their world and how it is informing their bigger picture and helping them understand the world around them.