Forest School
At The Green Door Nursery we feel very fortunate to have Helen on our team. Helen is a Level 3 Forest School Leader, alongside being a Level 3 Early Years Practitioner with much experience in Early Years. She delivers weekly Forest School sessions for our preschool children and provides training in Forest activities which we incorporate further into our week. Helen comes highly recommended to us by the Outdoors Project and The Hideaway Forest School.
Helen uses a mix of tools, such as hammers, nails and bow saws, to create nature based crafts that educate children about various aspects of the natural world, such as animals, seasons and our native woodland. Forest School aims to develop resilience and foster a love and understanding of the natural world in the next generation of the Earth’s caregivers, and most importantly, it is lots of fun for the children who love the sessions!
One example of a session: To understand the importance of pollinators and the role of wildflowers
Understanding the World
The Natural World:
The Natural World:
- Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants;
- Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class;
- Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter;
Communication and Language
Listening, Attention and understanding:
- Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions;
- Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding; Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers
Learning and Development theories
Research has shown that, “increased participation in nature-based environmental education is related to greater ecological behaviour, mediated by increases in environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature.” (Otto & Pensini, 2017). By discussing the importance of pollinators, then working on a task to support pollinators, children will increase their environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature. Otto, S. and Pensini, P., 2017. Nature-based environmental education of children: Environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature, together, are related to ecological behaviour. Global Environmental Change, 47, pp.88-94
