Mother Nature

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens
Running Head: MOTHER NATURE, MEET FOREST KINDERGARTENS
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens: Why the Outdoor Environment Must be Integrated into Todays Classroom for the Sake of Children Katie Clements Seton Hall University April 17, 2007
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Abstract
Successful all-outdoor learning schools in Europe, forest kindergartens provide three to six year olds with an exploratory, play-based context for learning. The United States educational system stands in direct contrast with the forest kindergarten learning environment. A focus on standardized testing and push-down academics exposes students to developmentally inappropriate practices and undue stress, with no long-term benefits. In these atmospheres, play is relatively inexistent. Accompanying the overly academic environment comes a rush toward premature abstraction; as a result, children are missing out on essential experiences with real-life objects that are necessary to their success as adults. Forest kindergartens stand as a clear solution to these problems and must immediately be integrated into the American educational system to ensure students are learning appropriately and to their full potential. Commitments to outdoor education by school districts must include a focus on teacher development and educational programming for the community.
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens: Why the Outdoor Environment Must be Integrated into Todays Classroom for the Sake of Children
The best classroom and richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky.
Educator Margaret McMillian, who pioneered the first nature schools for children under five years, made this assertion in the early twentieth century; however, this statement of belief was nothing new (Forest Schools, 2007, p. 1). Despite the overwhelming proof of the benefits of outdoor learning for the past 200 years, regular nature learning experiences in the United States have become relatively nonexistent. In Europe, in contrast, there has been an increased effort toward the integration of forest learning in schools over the past 50 years. Forest kindergartens in Europe provide ample opportunities for three to six year olds to experience and bond with nature through structured and unstructured experiences. Many barriers exist and slow the successful integration of forest kindergartens into the United States education system. The most prevalent of these concerns include a rapid movement away from play in the kindergarten classroom and an increased premature rush toward abstraction. Opportunities must be increased for teacher development through model schools and educational programming for parents related to forest kindergartens if these programs are to be successfully proliferated across the United States.
Into the Woods: A Forest Kindergarten Background From its first moments in the 1950s, forest kindergartens, where three- to six-year-olds participate in all-outdoor learning, were parent initiatives. Ella Flautau, a mother in Solierod,
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Denmark, noted with enthusiasm the discoveries her own and neighborhood children made during daily adventures she accompanied them on into the woods. It was here she noticed the positive developmental affects of the experiences on her children which she accredited to the nature experiences. Flautau shared her discoveries with neighborhood parents. Her ability to pique parents curiosity, in addition to the presence of a dwindling number of local kindergarten facilities in her community, led parents to approach her about starting an all-outdoor school program for their young children ages three to six. It is here the first Slovbornehave (forest kindergarten) was born. (Henke, 2007, p. 1) Today, the trend continues, with nearly all forest kindergartens in Europe reporting to have started because of parent motivation. Purposes for founding outdoor kindergartens vary to a certain degree. Some parents said they were encouraged by the physical location of their village, seeing an area each day surrounded by forests and nature and wanting their children to experience its entirety. Others simply wanted to improve their childrens early experiences over those they might have in a typical area kindergarten. Imke Venus, a parent of two forest kindergarteners and part of the operating team for Waldkindergarten Wurzelkinder Leonberg. e.V., said in her experiences, the major motivation for parents is for their children to have these nature experience. She said parents believed it was best for young children to spend their time outside in nature, equipped with no toys, just their imagination and a teacher to guide them, increasing their ability to watch and learn from their surroundings (Personal communication, February 1, 2007). Two types of forest kindergartens exist to date: traditional and integrated forest kindergartens. Traditional forest kindergartens utilize a full- or half-day outdoor education program and keep students outdoors every day school is in session, except in severe storms or when temperatures drop below 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Integrated forest kindergartens are
affiliated with more traditional kindergartens that weave outdoor education into their curriculum. These kindergartens might offer a partial outdoor program for two hours or more each day. Others host kindergarten groups that alternate between a week at an affiliated, more traditional kindergarten and a week outdoors in a natural site. For example, the Duffryn Infants School in Monmouthshire, Britain, has students alternate weeks between traditional and forest settings to provide a greater number of children with out-of-classroom exposure (Haigh, 2004, p. 1). Although both types offer benefits for students, traditional forest kindergartens will be used for analysis and comparison throughout this paper due to their widespread nature in Europe and more developed programs and operating organizations. Trends general to all forest schools will be discussed, even though it is assumed all schools operate slightly differently due to several factors such as geographic location, government laws and restrictions and teacher training, to name a few. Both traditional and integrated forest kindergarten programs are spreading. The number of Danish children attending forest kindergartens doubled from 1,627 in 1996 to 3,030 in 2000. Norway and Sweden reported they had more than five percent of their students attending these centers in 2003 (Borge, Lie & Nordhagen, 2003, p. 607-608). Forest schools in the United Kingdom are still in experimental stages, with the first introduced to the area in 1995 by nursery school professionals who visited Denmark and observed the idea firsthand. More than 20 forest schools now exist in Wales, and the first in Scotland will open in the fall of 2007. Many of these schools employ partial week outdoor education programs, and that number also includes schools that make a significant commitment to the outdoors even though their base of operations is inside (Murray, R., 2003, p. 8). In the United Kingdom, many of these schools differ from their European counterparts due to their communitys focus on outdoor education throughout life, not
just in the early years (Murray & OBrien, 2006, p. 3). Small country size and close proximity to neighbors has helped forest kindergartens quickly spread across Europe. Visits to these kindergartens allows for knowledge transfer from one area to the next. Alfred Cybulska, who founded a forest kindergarten in North Berlin, Germany, in 1999, first visited a similar program in Denmark. I knew from that moment, whenever I would need a kindergarten or I would start one, it would always be a Waldkindergarten (forest kindergarten). It was the quiet, the calm, that high degree of individual doing and the connection to nature (Personal communication, February 12, 2007). Typically situated on the outskirts of rural areas, forest kindergartens are generally located in forests of varying sizes; nevertheless, some do operate in open meadows or fields. Utilized forests are primarily public owned, although a small number of forest schools do own their land. A majority of programs include a small trailer or tent on site which can be used for indoor activities on stormy days. A stove inside the trailer warms students when they get very cold; however, parents report they usually move themselves enough so they keep warm (P. Vollmers, personal communication, February 5, 2007). Despite their overwhelming presence in rural areas situated close to more urban dwellings, forest kindergartens do exist in urban centers. Komazawa Park International School in Tokyo, Japan, offers an integrated forest kindergarten where students have two hours of outdoor experiences each day in a small, but convenient city park. In both urban and rural situations, city transportation is sometimes employed to give children access to nearby nature. At a forest kindergarten in the city-center of Berlin, children are picked up and dropped off at a city location by a shuttle each morning, making the commute more manageable for parents (T. Culsen, personal communication, February 5, 2007).
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens In a forest kindergarten, play becomes a childs serious work. Reporter Gerald Haigh (2004), in an attempt to summarize the philosophy of forest kindergartens, wrote that through their play, children practice and consolidate their learning, play with ideas, experiment, take risks, solve problems and make decisions individually, in small and in large groups (p. 2). This play is most often unstructured by teachers, allowing children to construct their own games and through them make sense of their world. This is well aligned with the Icelandic view that children should play in and explore their outdoor environment from an early age without direct adult supervision (Wagner, 2004, p. 56). Although children in forest kindergartens are closely supervised by their instructors, they still are given the freedom to make their own choices and
often play freely with the materials and people of their choosing. This necessary access to play is recognized as an essential right of the child under Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1990, p. 9). Forest kindergartens do not make traditional toys such as blocks, dolls and balls available for play. In fact, these objects are banned in several forest kindergartens and allowed in others only for weekly show-and-tell. However, to say forest kindergartens are toy-free would not be correctit is the definition of a toy that must shift and expand. In a forest kindergarten, children can play with loose parts, thought to be the most creative toys available for children. These loose parts can be almost anything in a forest, from a rock to a stick to a blade of grass; since they have no defined function, they encourage creative play and imagination. Increased vocabularies and communication skills are often observed in forest kindergarten students. Here, a stick is no longer just a stick; They have to tell them whether their stick is a paddle, a cooking spoon, a gun, a stick for skiing or anything else (E. Schulle, personal communication, March 4, 2007). This open-endedness means students cannot rely solely on the appearance of an object to convey
its meaning. German Waldkindergarten Erdweg said this is necessary to contrast the modern life situation of three to six year olds that is characterized by a lack of movement and filled with function-certain toys that allow little creativity (Concept, 2006, p. 1). Parents, especially those with one child who attended a traditional kindergarten before discovering forest kindergartens, report lower rates of illness in their forest kindergarteners due to increased time outdoors in all weather. The immune system is trained as children run, climb and play outside in fresh air, escaping diseases common in enclosed kindergartens (E. Lacis, personal communication, February 6, 2007; A. Gink, personal communication, February 7, 2007). Gross motor skills are frequently engaged as children run, climb and play. This movement is especially important for young boys who, at kindergarten age, often lag behind their same-age female peers developmentally (Jacobsen, 2001, p. 11). Fear of accidents is decreased, even as children traverse bumpy ground sand scale trees. Dr. Helga Grohmann-Harpain, president of the Waldracker Forest Kindergarten Society, found that since forest kindergarteners have increased movement experiences in a variety of settings, they learn how to judge their own abilities, in effect reducing the danger of accidents (Personal communication, February 23, 2007). The natural variety that exists in the forest, in addition to its ever changing seasons and endless opportunities for discovery, make the forest the ideal location for genuine learning. The most successful forest kindergartens are those whose educators can identify and capitalize on the various opportunities for learning that present themselves spontaneously in the forest. Subjects can be tackled as they arise in real-life situations. Mathematics no longer seems isolated and abstract when students measure and compare snow depths, observe changes in quantities of water, examine real objects they find to show concepts of small and large and discover round and angular objects displayed in the natural world. On any given day, a student might be asked to
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens collect 10 sticks of the same length to use for fire building. The student must not only ensure he has 10 sticks but also must compare the stick lengths to see if they are longer or shorter than desired. Here complex science topics usually withheld until the upper grades are experienced in
day-to-day interactions with nature. Life cycles come alive with changing trees, new growth and death, which children learn is a natural occurrence in healthy forests. Forces of gravity can be directly observed as acorns fall from trees to the ground. Condensation on morning grass prompts conversations of the water cycle. Since children typically explore the same areas each day within their forest kindergarten, they are able to observe the natural processes of the forest over the seasons. German caretaker Natacha Lautenschlager contrasted this with the play structures students commonly experience: A playground doesnt change. A slide remains a slide. But nature evolves and lives. When it rains, theres a small brook to run over; when it snows, they can slide. They experience the years cycles. They can touch and comprehend nature (de Pommmereau, 2003, p. 1). Elisabeth Lacis, chairwoman of a forest kindergarten interest group, mentioned another advantage as the unique opportunity to install basic natural science knowledge during walks and other activities (2007). These beneficial learning opportunities often occur spontaneously, based on childrens questions or a small rabbit print observed on a path. As the common saying in Europe asserts, Nature is the best educator for the child. The forest also presents students with a natural understanding of limitations and borders. As Lacis put it, Nature gives rules that cannot be discussed by the child, and they have to go with it. Nature is so strong, so children will eventually agree to the rules (2007). Rules no longer seem arbitrary when placed in context and when a matter of common safety and group survival. They are instead become understandable because they are applied directly to students
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lives. For example, students must stay in sight of their educators at all times to avoid being lost in the forest. Angelika Gink, founder and current head of Waldkindergarten Freiburg e.V (2007), said the students are used to living with certain dangers, like ticks, bees, wet ground, where they may slide, stones they may roll down, open fire, and know what to do in such a situation. For example, students must avoid putting any objects in their mouth; very early lessons about the potential dangers of unknown leaves and berries help to prevent this. Nature also presents very natural boundaries. A brook that is too wide cannot be jumped. A tree with weak branches cannot be climbed. However, brooks exist narrow enough for students to transverse, and most trees in the forest have branches strong enough to support the children. These natural limits help children respect the forest and its boundaries. Forest kindergartens still incorporate routines into their day-to-day operations that are necessary for young children. Morning greeting circle time allows a consistent start to the day. Story time occurs daily in nearly all programs, where students gather together over a story which is read and discussed. Flexibility is taught through this exercise; students must be willing to change their plans on rainy days when a book would get ruined if taken out. Daily bread time allows students and teachers to gather together over a communal snack in the woods. These routines occur without the typical distractions found in a classroom. There are no phones to ring or organizational duties to tend to. Instead, entire periods can be focused on learning and children development. Daily routines and activities are supplemented by themed days and trips. Project Day in one kindergarten allow students to investigate seasonally varying natural phenomena. They may observe the indigenous resident creatures of the pond in the nearby Biotope or journey to discover the species-rich plant world of the forest (Andrea Schwarz, Antje Schwarz, M. Jerusalem & T. Schwarz, personal communication, March 7, 2007). Special
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programs at another German forest kindergarten teach about the fruits and vegetables growing in the region and where the childrens food comes from (B. Saile, personal communication, March 5, 2007). Field trips to local farms, community buildings and other natural areas are also common, with some forest kindergartens taking a field trip as often as once per week. Forest kindergartens tend to nurture a close relationship with parents and incorporate them into daily operations and rituals. Since children in the typical forest kindergarten range from three or four to six years old, this tight bond with parents is important and helps ease the separation between home and school. Morning circle activities at the start, and sometimes also at the end, of each day include parents in discussions about their childrens experiences and interests. Through this, children learn to converse with adults on focused topics, and a necessary home-school partnership is solidified. A state-of-mind is cultivated where parents are allowed, even encouraged, to come spend time with their students as they learn. In many kindergartens, this support goes further than the morning circle, with parents assisting the educators on walks and activities (C. Trompka, personal communication, February 7, 2007). At Evelyn Schulles school in Scotland, parents are encouraged to walk with the children into the forest to feel and appreciate nature for themselves (2007). Parent-teacher meetings and individual talks are common to increase trust and cooperation between the kindergarten and the childrens parents, occurring more regularly than typical school conferences (Schwarz, et. al, 2007). Children in Scotland (2005), the voice of 350 organizations and individuals working to ensure best practices are used in Scottish education, found forest kindergartens are especially successful at including hard-to-reach groups of parents in daily school proceedings. A high level of involvement by fathers has been observed in centers across Scotland (p. 3). This parental presence reduces the teacher-student ratio significantly further than exists in a typical
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kindergarten. In most states in Germany, for example, two teachers must supervise groups of no more than 15 students. In Norway, the number of adults to children in a forest kindergarten also falls slightly lower than in conventional care centers (Borge, et. al., 2003, p. 607). Smaller class sizes allow for higher teacher attention per student so individualization can occur. Student attention stays focused on a task due to a smaller number of classroom distractions. The residual benefits of smaller classes sizes in kindergarten do not stop when students enter first grade. A class-size analysis performed by economists Alan Krueger and Diane Whitmore found students who had small classes in the first four years of school were more likely to take a college-entrance exam near the end of high school (Nabhan & Trimble, 1994). Although exact kindergarten costs are difficult to quantify, many forest kindergartens report decreased operational costs. German Forest Kindergaten Flensburg said their yearly costs are substantially less than in a traditional kindergarten due to a decreased number of materials needed and non-existent building maintenance costs (Introduction, 2005, p. 1). Others call forest kindergartens the cheapest way to offer parents a high quality of pre-school education with many benefits (H. Grohmann-Harpain, 2007). These decreased costs make it possible to hire two educators who oversee the smaller number of enrolled children. Close access to public transportation and government and private subsidies currently help keep costs low at most forest kindergartens. Parental fees typically supplement these costs (Borge, et. al., 2003, p. 615-616). At Waldkindergarten Eschenlohe Berglowen und Waldelfen e.V. in Germany, fear of becoming a kindergarten catering only to the wealthy prompts the center to keep costs low. They never want to set the monthly rate so high that a normal family with several kids could not afford it anymore (Trompka, 2007).
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Forest kindergartens do not exist in the United States to the extent they exist in Europe. Currently nine nature centers exist in the United States that operate fully licensed nature preschools for ages three to five; these primarily include outdoor experiences for the children, although some indoor experiences do occur at these centers, even on days when the weather is
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not poor. Most have structured play yards that allow students to experience a variety of materials such as sand areas, fort building areas and open spaces. Some use the natural wooded areas around the center as a context for learning, taking the children into the woods as is done in traditional forest kindergartens. Strong examples include the Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul, Minnesota, which also takes students to its 40-acre working farm, and the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (K. Finch, personal communication, January 26, 2007). However, these centers are primarily for children up to age five, so they do not cover the kindergarten-aged students included in forest kindergartens. This is a trend that must be rectified.
Kindergrind and the Rapid Departure of Play Todays kindergarten classroom is changing rapidly, and its twentieth century developmentally appropriate kindergarten counterpart is becoming nothing more than a distant relative. Kindergrind, a term coined by Amy Dickinson (1999) to describe the push-down academics in primary grades, is flooding districts across the country (p. 1). Instead of a homey environment where students focus on developing social skills over toys and dress-up, kindergarten children must spend their time sitting still, with attention focused on their teacher, to learn the academic basics. Most states have standards that describe what skills and abilities must be taught to all students through the kindergarten year. These standards do not include learning how to socialize, developing appropriate school behaviors or strengthening motor skills
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens (Jackson, 2005, p. A1). With the majority of schools still employing a half-day instructional
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program, limited time is available to reach the more than 100 standards and objectives that grace many schools curriculum. These three-and-a-half hour programs typically share the room with afternoon kindergarten classes, and expanding programs to full day is expensive and out of the question for most districts. This leaves a hefty amount of content to be squeezed into a relatively short period. Kindergarten, in the form it existed in the 1960s, has disappeared. Trends toward making kindergarten more academic are not new in America. Early German educators who attempted to bring kindergartens to the United States faced significant resistance due to this problem. Matilda Kriege, a leading kindergarten trainer in Germany, noted the desire of American parents to have their children taught to read at an early age was a major source of difficulty in implementing kindergartens in the United States. William Hailmann, a German-American kindergarten educator, noted similar trends and even criticized American parents for demanding premature academic work from their young children (Beatty, 2000, p. 45). Although a swing away from inappropriate academic work did occur for some time, the process has been reversed. Kindergarten teachers participating in a study about the nature of kindergarten all reported kindergarten had shifted significantly from a developmental focus to an academic focus. One teacher who summarized her beliefs for researchers said, I think its what first grade used to be (Parker & Neuharth-Pritchett, 2006, p. 71). In August in Mobile County, Alabama, kindergarten teachers learned they would be required to give letter grades to students in five academic subjects (LaCoste-Caputo & Russell, 2006, p. 2). Although this example may be extreme, in many kindergarten classes formalized assessments occur weekly or bi-weekly to ensure students are meeting state education standards and are not falling behind. Students in low
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income communities who fail to meet specific standards may be kept after school or required to come in early for tutoring. Here, students learn how to read up to 100 common words, write simple sentences and complete basic addition and subtraction sentences. Academic achievement is valued, and other successes are pushed aside with the fun and playtime to make room for what is viewed as important. New academic kindergartens standards are accompanied by an increased focus on standardized testing and grading. As mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law January 8, 2002, all schools are required to provide standardized assessments to students in grades three through eight in mathematics and English, with science assessments beginning in 2007. Although these assessments are not mandated for the youngest school children, they do put increased pressure on kindergarten teachers to have the students ready academically for first grade (http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml?src=ln). It comes as no surprise that members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives are currently battling to overhaul No Child Left Behind legislation to make it so states could opt out of the mandatory standardized testing requirement for five-year periods. States would instead be required to submit a five-year plan to the Secretary of Education detailing how they would raise and measure achievement of students (Rosen, 2007, p. 1). However, these changes appear to be made for misguided reasons. Congressmen seek to provide greater flexibility for states and school districts, not to provide more developmentally appropriate conditions for students. The law is up for reauthorization in 2007. This significant revision of the law contrasts sharply with Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings opinion that the law, like Ivory soap, is 99.9 percent pure, with not much needed in the way of change (What NCLB, 2007, p. 1).
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Where in a system where even administrators cannot notice its flaws is room made for celebrating and cultivating other intelligences? Howard Gardner, in his theory of multiple
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intelligences, presented 10 types of intelligences, even including a naturalistic intelligence, seen as humans ability to recognize plants, animals and other parts of the natural environment (Louv, 2005, p. 71). While this type of intelligence is encouraged in a forest kindergarten, in a typical United States kindergarten its closest application would be sorting pictures of animals based on similar characteristics during an indoor science lesson. Test-based kindergartens also appeal best to visual and auditory learners both in instructional and assessment modes; they often ignore the needs of those who learn kinesthetically, relying on hands-on experiences with the content they are exploring. No Child Left Behind Legislation brushes over these alternative intelligences and learning styles by reporting that despite educator and parental concerns, standardized tests, with their limited paper and pencil formats, do adequately assess those who learn and express themselves in different manners (Stronger accountability, 2004, p. 1). Often most at risk in test-based environments are students with emotional or behavioral problems; in these classrooms, a rising number of children are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder each year. In 2003, there were six million American children taking medicine to help with attention disorders. This number contrasts with the 130,000 British students taking Ritalin in a similar time period. Sax (2003) found overly academic kindergartens and primary classrooms encourage the classification of students as ADHD; by committing an excessive amount of time to academics, they leave those students who before would have benefited from the multi-modal, sensory kindergarten experience (p. 1). In studies following students from kindergarten through their elementary school careers, research found a heavy reliance on academic, teacher-directed methods of teaching in
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens kindergarten did not translate into achievement in later grades. Marcon (2002) found those children who experienced overly academic preschools earned significantly lower grades by the end of sixth grade than their peers in developmentally appropriate classrooms (Parker &
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Neuharth-Pritchell, 2006, p. 67). These studies focused primarily on academic achievement; they did not explore the long-term effects that academic, didactic kindergartens had on student personality, motivation and self confidence; these effects could be even more damaging and harder to recover from. This environment, fortified by standardized tests, also causes high levels of stress for many youngsters and their teachers. Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education and research for Sesame Street, has watched students struggle with high stress. Acknowledging that stress is not conducive to learning, Truglio said, If you are put in a stressful environment, youre not going to learn (Scelfo, 2006, p. 1). Stressful environments can cause struggling students to tune out to avoid failure and additional stress, decreasing their learning potential and increasing their likelihood of failure later in life. The kindergarten/kindergrind debate flourished in San Diego, California, in 2005, when the Kindergarten Leadership Committee examined city benchmarks for academic achievement in kindergarten and found they were too advanced for students. These demanding objectives included having young students achieve specific reading goals on a timetable, instead of at their own pace. Lower reading benchmarks were reinstated by a vote of 3-to-2 of the San Diego Unified Trustees. Teachers in this district are still expected to diversify instruction for students moving faster or slower than the general class pace. Rosemary Young, president of the National Association of Elementary School principals, summed up the school districts dilemma. The reality is we all have benchmarks and standards to reach, but we are all agonizing over whether we are meeting the needs of the children, or the needs to meet standards (Gao Copley, 2005, p.
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1-2). Too often in these situations, young children silently lose the battle to the standards as their greatest allies, their teachers and parents, do not fight for developmentally appropriate practices. Kindergartens increased academic focus is causing redshirting. Formerly a practice reserved for college athletes who would be kept on the bench for a year until they become more able to serve the team, redshirting has worked its way to the kindergarten ranks. Parents are choosing to hold their young five-year-olds out of the kindergarten classroom for an additional year. The program first became popular in the early 1980s, and it has been accompanied by a plethora of extra-year developmental programs to prepare students who are not quite ready for todays demanding kindergarten classroom. Prior to this, parents were encouraged to send their children to kindergarten as soon as possible, and many districts had children who were four years old attending (Richardson, 1995, p. 4). Redshirting occurs for several reasons. Rates of redshirting are higher among boys, who due to delayed developmental rates and higher needs for movement, often appear not quite ready for todays academic classroom. In affluent communities, families often hope their child, who will be a year older when he enters kindergarten, will outpace his classmates and have higher rates of future success (LaCoste-Caputo & Russel, 2006, p. 1A). Dr. Ada Beth Cutler, dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Montclair State University, said she fears parents are redshirting students for the wrong reasons. I worry about parents making the decision not because the child is not ready, but to give the child a leg up (Nussbaum, 2003, p. 2). Some parents project this added boost will allow their children to outperform peers competing for spots at the same highly competitive middle school due to higher verbal abilities and increased life experiences or help their children receive sports scholarships later in life due to physical abilities that increase with age. New York Times writer Elissa Gootman (2006)
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referred to this practice by parents as an almost Darwinian desire to ensure that their own child is not the runt of the class (p. B1). Barbara Willer, spokeswoman for the National Association for the Education of Young Children, said there is great concern in the education community due to redshirting. Willer said research is clear there are no long-term positive effects of red-shirting on students and research has begun to show there may be negative effects (Richardson, 1995, p. 1). United States Department of Education research shows that for the six percent of children considered late starters in kindergarten, academic benefits disappear by around the end of first grade. At this age, late starters appear slightly more proficient than their classmates at reading, but they are less proficient on average in mathematics (Gootman, 2006, p. 2). As parents delay their childs kindergarten entrance, kindergarten classrooms are, in effect, given permission to become more demanding due to the increased mean age of students in the classroom. Joan Moyer (2001), a professor in the College of Education at Arizona State University, argued that even though sixyear-olds may possess increased abilities to meet these goals, such programs try to fit children to the curriculum rather than adjusting the curriculum to respond to the nature of the learner (p. 162). These arenas with increased academic focus, accompanied by paper-andpencil, teacher-directed tasks, have the same expectations for all children, despite differing developmental and intellectual abilities. As classrooms become more academic, developmentally appropriate elements of the traditional kindergarten classroom of the 1950s and 1960s are being quickly abandoned. The most evident of these omissions is the rapid movement away from play. This trend stands contradictory to what parents feel is best for their children. Drake, Muran, Price and Tellijohann (2006) conducted a survey to determine Ohio parents perceptions of the role of the elementary
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens school in preventing unnecessary childhood weight gain. They found nearly all of the parents, 99.7 percent, believed recess should be provided to elementary students each week, and recess
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was allotted the most amount of time each week at 137 minutes when compared to other health initiatives (p. 504). However, recess across the country is rapidly disappearing. University of New Orleans associate professor Judith Kieff noted that by the year 2000, recess had disappeared from more than 40 percent of elementary and middle schools in the United States (Gao, 2005, p. 1). In some areas, new elementary school buildings are being constructed without playgrounds, making recess not even an option, and many schools have larger areas for parking than for supervised play experiences. Rates of outdoor experiences for educational learning are not much better. A 1989 to 1990 research project found 16 percent of American teachers had never used the outdoors for educational purposes, and those teachers who utilized the outdoors on average took students outside fewer than three times per year (Parker & Neuharth-Pritchett, 2006, p. 1). The rapid movement away from both structured and unstructured play experiences represents an abandonment of best practices and conventional wisdom regarding the benefits of play as part of childhood. Guaranteed under Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Childhood, all children have the right to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child (United Nations, 1990, p. 6). The Association of Childhood Education International reaffirms this right. They believe play is an essential part of healthy growth, development, and learning for children of all ages (Packer Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002, p. 2). Play is considered by many theorists, including Vygotsky. Piaget and Dewey, to serve as the primary source of development and learning for young children (Moyer, 2001, p. 163).
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Play, while difficult to define, has several distinguishing characteristics. Play is
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exploratory and active. It is self-initiated by the child, with activities chosen based on the childs preferences. Children also must be intrinsically motivated to play. This motivation helps make play personally relevant, increasing its meaning and appropriateness in terms of the childs abilities (Packer Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002, p. 1). Play can sharply contrast with work, which is adult-initiated and adult-directed. Both direct and indirect benefits result from childhood play opportunities. Gross and fine motor skill development occurs more rapidly as children manipulate real-life objects in natural ways. In a forest kindergarten students benefit from daily motor experiences, be it climbing over a log or examining the intricacy of a bark pattern. A longitudinal study of students with poor motor skills found these students typically exhibit higher rates of behavior problems, lower achievement levels and may harbor feelings of intense dissatisfaction with their own performances (Rule and Stewart, 2002, p. 9). Studies have found significant correlations between the development of motor skills and academic and social performances later in life. A study by Meisels and Son (2005) found that early kindergarten motor skills have a small but significant effect on reading and mathematics levels measured at the end of first grade; these results hold true even when initial skill levels and demographic breakdowns are controlled for. Visual motor skills tend to have the highest impact on academic achievement, although gross motor skills were also found to have a significant influence (p. 755-757). Since motor skill development correlates directly to childrens cognitive preparedness for school, forest kindergartens play a unique role in ensuring students encounter significant opportunities to develop motor control. These motor skills allow students to attempt and succeed in situations they before would have been unable and unwilling to try.
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Gunhild Westman (2003), a professor of education at Uppsala University in Sweden, has observed a high link between language and vocabulary development and play. As children play, they must describe the events they are experiencing. Although play offers the freedom to make mistakes in the descriptions of actions, it is also demanding for children in that they must pay attention to each others choice of words and actions and decide how to respond appropriately (p. 5). High levels of excitement during play activities, especially those that are outdoors and unstructured, leave children more encouraged to share their experiences with their teachers, parents and peers. This also encourages the use of higher-level vocabulary as children find the words to describe the natural phenomena and play concepts they encountered. An EnglandWales forest kindergarten study found these results were also consistent for students with language difficulties aligned with emotional or behavioral problems, especially those students with receptive language disabilities (Murray & OBrien, 2006, p. 36). Role-playing through play allows children to develop and clarify societal roles and personal ideas; by acting as someone other than themselves, they learn to see others point of view (Moyer, 2001, p. 163). These increased opportunities for language development and communication enhancement led naturalists Gary Paul Nabhan and Stephen Trimble (1994) to consider the necessity of play in childhood. They wrote: Given that it has long been known that children up until about seven years of age communicate with each other more adequately by play than in speech, an argument can certainly be made that their childhood right to play is the same as our adult First Amendment right to free speech (p. 9). Dorothy and Jerome Singer, child psychologists at Yale University, found that strong imaginative play opportunities in childhood correlate with more pronounced leadership skills in the classroom and higher desires to cooperate with others (Hannaford, 2002, p. 132). Carol Seefeldt, former professor of human development at the University of Maryland, noted improved
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens learning skills in students who had opportunities for physical activity at school. Increased abilities were observed in the areas of concentration, memory and problem solving (Wineberg,
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2000, p. 27). Physical movement and play with others also contributes to decreased stress levels and increased learning potential. These results were observed by Gabbard and Rodriques, whose research found movement activity plays an essential role in encouraging brain development and learning cementation in children (Burlingame, 2005, p. 6). In classrooms, the disappearance of play has led to what Robert Michael Pyle termed the extinction of experience (Nabhan and Trimble, 1994, p. 86). Instead of children participating in direct contact with nature and wildlife, their new experiences are more academic and less effective. As part of their schooling, students may learn about the rainforest during an in-depth, cross-curricular unit of study, but they might spend little to no time learning about the deciduous forest in their own backyard. Instead of observing animals and nature first hand, children may visit zoos or watch nature films where others experience the nature and interpret it for the child. Instead of being allowed free time to observe and truly understand a tree with all senses, children are finding their outdoor experiences as part of the school day to be highly teacher-directed and dictated, if and when they occur. The National Association for the Education of Young Children worries that childrens perceptual abilities may suffer due to the overwhelming amount of school experiences that require only two senses, such as computers, worksheets and books. The powerful learning tools of smell, touch, tasted and physical engagement are being relatively ignored (The Value, 2006, p. 1). Almost concurrent with plays dismissal from the classroom comes a new type of play at home. When it does occur, this play is much more supervised than it was for kindergarten counterparts in previous generations. Children under five years of age rarely participate in
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens unsupervised outdoor play experiences, and a majority of five- to 10-year-old students are still supervised when playing outside. Many factors contribute to this increase in supervision, including adult fears of strangers and violence, particularly in urban areas, and a decreasing presence of outdoor play spaces close to the home (Rivkin, 2000, p. 1-2). Play even looks different. Today play experiences are often highly structured and over-planned by parents who want to provide high levels of stimulation for their children and who seek to prevent boredom. Competitive sports and physical education programs, music lessons and play with toys that ask
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for little imagination contribute to these trends. The high appeal of technology also contributes to keeping children away from true physical engagement in an activity. As child psychologist Brian Sutton-Smith put it, Play has become too domesticated and regimented while playgrounds themselves have become more and more barren (Nabhan and Trimble, 2004, p. 8-9). Today, children spend a mere one percent of their time each week, about one hour, outdoors engaged in unstructured free play (Wells, 2007). While schools indoor, academic nature used to be an appropriate balance for the outdoor-rich lives of children, todays children now face a lack of outdoor activities from both fronts. Could curricular goals be pushed down too far, to the point where they are harming students future abilities rather than giving them a head start? Walter Gilliam, a child development expert at Yale University, believes so. He questioned the ever rising academic focus of kindergartens. There comes a time when prudent people begin to wonder just how high we can raise our expectations for our littlest schoolkids (Tyre, 2006, p. 2). This does not mean expectations should be lowered. High standards are necessary, especially when students from some high income communities enter school with four years of preschool experience and basic abilities to read, write letters and simple words and add single and two digit numbers. They are
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also essential to meet the needs of children in some low-income communities who enter school with no pre-school experience and limited concepts of language and print. However, challenging these students does not have to come at the expense of the rest of the kindergarteners, who need opportunities for play, socialization and physical engagement in their learning. It also needs not come at the expense of those children prepared academically for kindergarten; opportunities to socialize, make concrete connections with natural objects and learn through self exploration provide innumerable benefits to these students. Instead of making the classroom more academic to meet the needs of these students, it must instead become more developmentally appropriate. Academic learning will follow as a direct result. Forest kindergartens stand as a clear alternative to problems raised by the overly academic kindergarten. Forest kindergartens provide a unique context for play found to be most beneficial for children. Here, ample opportunities for outdoor play are created and allowed to evolve. While planned lessons do often occur in forest kindergartens, frequently surrounding a story or a topic students observed in their natural environment, time for free play is structured into the daily schedule for all programs. With loose parts such as twigs, grass and mud, students creativity blossoms. Teacher observations and assessments occur informally; no student is subjected to time sitting still, attempting to put paper to pencil to accomplish a task. Fredrika Martensson (2003), a Swedish environmental psychologist and researcher, found children play more freely in natural environments, such as a forest or meadow, because they are not restricted by traditional playground rules and government regulations limiting free movement. Play without these rules and restrictions becomes more complex for children since they are not told how to think or act. The forest also provides opportunities for movement and engagement of gross motor skills as children conquer hills, trees and other natural obstacles not
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found in a classroom. In this way, outdoor play becomes more vigorous than indoor play (p. 3). In a 2001 study, Wells observed that childrens movement changes as their environment changes. She found that as children moved from places with less nature to places with more nature, the movement was associated with increased cognitive functioning (Wells, 2007). Outside, students can at times play without regard to noise level. Whereas in a school environment children must constantly control their noise level to avoid disrupting others in the classroom and other classes in the building, a forest absorbs noise and allows students to play loudly without disrupting others. In a survey by British organization Playday, four out of five children responded they prefer this type of outdoor play to indoor play; seventy-five percent said they would prefer to play outside more often (Outdoor play, 2006, p. 1). This preference for outdoor play is encouraging as the amount of overweight children continues to climb. Amount of time spent outdoors is directly related to level of physical activity, which is associated with higher levels of health and physical wellness. Nature play has been found to be more physically, emotionally and cognitively valuable than indoor electronic play which is passive in nature (Green Hearts, 2007, p. 2.) Nature also provides a restorative environment for children and their teachers. The attention restoration theory, developed by University of Michigan professors Stephen and Rachel Kaplan, examines the difference between directed and involuntary attention. Directed attention, where individuals must focus or direct their energy on a task that does not fascinate them, is tiring and causes fatigue with overuse. Impulsive behavior, agitation and irritability often occur as results. As individuals are required to direct their attention for long periods of time, their ability to fully learn and comprehend experiences is diminished. Involuntary attention, in contrast, is easy to maintain and is captured effortlessly. Since attention in the forest is captured
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens without effort, directed attention is given a chance to rest. The Kaplans observed four components of a natural environment that help prevent this directed attention fatigue. When these elements are present, they lead to a restorative environment. These elements include:
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fascination, such as the babble of a brook or the shimmer of leaves; being away and experiencing a mini-break in the woods; compatibility due to the support a forest provides for varied interests and grouping arrangements; and the vast extent or scope of the forest. The Kaplans found nature to serve as the most effective restorative environment, with over 100 studies backing their findings (Louv, 2005b, p. 1; Wells, 2007). It comes as no surprise based on these findings that decreased stress levels are reported in forest kindergarteners and their teachers. A 2006 study by Wells and Lekies and previous studies by Palmer and Tanner suggest childhood exposure to nature, both wild and domesticated, is indicative of environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behavior in adulthood (Wells, 2007). Environmental curricula in academic-based environments that teach of environmental injustices and travesties have, in effect, an opposite then desired effect on environmental beliefs in adulthood. In schools, children are often exposed to environmental problems before they have had real opportunities to connect with the environment and develop a reverence for it. This creates what educator David Sobel (1999) refers to as ecophobia, or the fear of ecological problems and the natural world (p. 1). Without first having direct opportunities to experience nature, desired pro-environmental attitudes are less likely to develop. The constantly fed fear of the natural world by both children and adults must be addressed, and the United States view of childhood and kindergarten will have to change to accomplish this goal. In Norway, which stressed nature experiences in its Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report on early childhood education, happy children
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens are those outside playing without regard of season and weather. Forest day care centers, which offer children these experiences on a daily basis, represent a child-care practice in harmony
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with images parents held for their children in Norway (Borge, Lie & Nordhagen, 2003, p. 606). In the United States, the recent movement has been toward adults serving as protectorate of children, not as a guardian. Where Norwegian families allow children to play outside without supervision or may loosely observe their children to provide educational support, United States families tend to keep children inside for their own sake, to protect them from community violence and danger. While fears must be acknowledged, so must the fact that the number of childhood stranger abductions in the United States did not increase from 1988 to 1999 (Finkelhor, Hammer, Porcelli & Sedlak, 2004, p. 1). Caution must also be taken to prevent parents and educators from unnaturally passing on a culture of fear to young children. A 1994 study by Wilson showed preschool children are acutely aware of these fears and harbor an increasing number of personal fears. Thirty-three preschool children were interviewed individually to obtain insight into their environmental knowledge and opinions. Some children commented they disliked rain because it could make them sick. Similarly, wildflowers were viewed as dangerous because of their ability to attract stinging bees. Boats were frightening due to their potential to tip over. Simmons conducted a similar study in 1994 and found many children were afraid of trees because their branches or trunks might fall without notice. Poisonous fish, birds that swoop down from the sky and attack children and the sharp rocks in the water were common outdoor fears listed by young children (Wilson, 1997, p. 2). These studies demonstrate how children are becoming increasingly fearful and distanced from the natural world, afraid of the small animals and experiences that fascinated children for centuries.
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens The nurturing environment of a forest kindergarten helps to eliminate these fears by
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setting clear ground rules, while, at the same time, allowing children to experience the properties of nature on their own, even if it might mean an occasional bump or bruise. Forest kindergartens provide direct nature experiences that allow students to construct their own understandings of the world instead of learning about nature primarily through stories about witches and wild beasts. Here, opportunities are providedto be in the natural world with modeling by a responsible adult, which Sobel (1996) feels is necessary to address issues of fear and ecophobia (p. 200). After these nature experiences, students will be much more likely to construct their own positive opinions of the forest. Overtime, a study of forest schools in England and Wales showed that parental opinions of nature even changed while their children attended a forest kindergarten. Fears and perceptions of risk showed marked decreases, and parents were more likely to provide less structured outdoor experiences for their children, especially when they had previously limited these experiences due to personal fears (Murray & OBrien, 2006, p. 46). Educator, writer and biologist Carla Hannaford (2002) observed these phenomena firsthand when she encountered a forest kindergarten by surprise on a walk through the woods during a visit to Europe. She observed that play opportunities, both alone and with friends, emerged like raindrops from a moisture-laden cloud. The limitless opportunities provided by the forest, in addition to the freedom of unstructured play, left the door open for children to pursue their interests and ideas. Hannaford observed gross and fine motor skill development as students climbed on logs and fingered patterns on pine needles. She saw conversations sprout up over new finds and imaginary games. Hannaford observed high levels of cooperation in the forest as children interacted with one another through varied groupings. They could move fluidly between
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens activities and were not mandated to continue one project for a required amount of time. Flexibility and respect to individual differences and preferences were paramount (p. 141). Integration of forest kindergartens into the United States educational system will help more schools reach success with their students in areas of education where the United States is currently lagging sorely behind. In an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report on the state of early childhood education (ECE), Norways review demonstrated its high regard for the role of play and the outdoor environment in education. Norways framework for childcare centers validated the importance of childrens free time, individual choices and play. Educators emphasized the importance of protecting children from too much adult control and direction in their play activities. All ECE programs described in Norway were designed to develop childrens love of nature, going deeper than a basic understanding of an ecosystems functions and struggles. This report contrasts greatly with
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OECDs report on the state of ECE in the United States, in which there is no mention of outdoor or play activities in education (OECD- Norway, 1999; & OECD- United States, 1999). While the report focused on a number of educational concerns, such as testing, state standards and the need for funding, it completed neglected aspects of schooling significantly important to children and their development. It is no surprise then that school in America has become synonymous with staying inside, out of touch with the natural world and real-life experiences. These nature experiences are not hard to come by and do not require long trips to faraway national parks. Nearby nature, which is close to the home, can instead be explored. This attitude is realized at the Komazawa Park International School in Tokyo, Japan, where an integrated forest kindergarten in the heart of the city uses a one-acre city park for its daily explorations. Although this plot of land may be considerably smaller than most forest kindergartens, it still
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens provides free exploration and limitless possibilities for kindergarten children playing in it. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (2005) outlined the importance of
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outdoor play in its ten signs of a well-functioning, beneficial kindergarten classroom, regardless of location and resources. Number seven reads: Children have an opportunity to play outside everyday that weather permits. This play is never sacrificed for more instructional time (Top Ten, p. 1). The most beneficial outdoor play opportunities, as realized through forest kindergartens, are very inexpensive. Here, traditional, often age-inappropriate toys that provide limits to imagination and fantasy are abandoned. Children can use only the basic earth elements of sand, water and mud to create castles and faraway lands, without fear of spilling materials or making a mess of themselves or a classroom. Loose-parts are inexhaustible in the forest. These open-ended materials can be used in many ways and combined with other loose parts through imagination and creativity. Nearly any forest material can be a loose part, with common examples including trees, flowers, long grasses, sticks, etc. Naturalist Richard Louv (2005) argued that nature, which excites all the senses, remains the richest source of loose parts to engage children from all directions (Last Child, p. 86). In its imperfection, nature, and all its loose parts, becomes the perfect landscape for outdoor play and self-expression. A forest kindergarten education can also help eliminate the push-down academic trend. With nature as their teacher, students learn at their own pace in a forest kindergarten, independent from a scripted curriculum. However, a lack of formalized curriculum does not mean no learning occurs and that play takes place without meaning. Scottish kindergarten teacher Evelyn Schulle (2007) said lessons are flexible, and teachers are willing to change the agenda when necessary. She said the instructional plans for the day cannot forsee the snail on the
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens trail or a squirrel that lies on the ground dying. Planned lessons occur in the forest each day, in
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addition to spontaneous learning opportunities. In some states in Germany, forest kindergartens only receive financial support from the state if they adopt the educational plan and standards of the state (N. J., personal communication, March 1, 2007). Even with the standards requirements, educators and parents have observed children in these communities learning at their own pace, as they are developmentally ready. Imke Venus (2007), a mother of two forest kindergarteners, shared this story of her sons development throughout his time in the forest kindergarten: What I found so amazing about my sons development was that he had the time to find out what he can do. He was able to realize his development. At the beginning there was a tree, and he was too small to climb up that one. He had to watch the older children doing it. A year later he could climb up the first part of the tree, and when he left the kindergarten he was at the top of the tree as the others before him, and he was deathly proud of it. Dominic Gullo, professor and deputy chair of the elementary and early childhood department at Queens College, believes this independence to learn when ready is necessary becuase young brains advance at uneven rates. Until age eight, children continue to catch up to their peers in maturity (LaCoste-Caputo & Russel, 2006, p. 3). Scaffolded activities that can be experienced and interpreted at a variety of levels are necessary at younger ages so all students can benefit from learning experiences. The flexibility and freedom provided by the forest kindergarten curriculum also means children have to find ways to mediate personal boredom; they cannot sit back and merely listen as they do in many traditional kindergarten programs. This eliminates a traditional lack of motivation and negative attitude toward learning that can be found even in the youngest students in a typical school atmosphere. It is through these child-led, meaningful experiences that children can best construct knowledge from their interactions with their environment, teachers and peers.
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Academically, children who attend forest kindergartens perform as well as and often
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better than peers educated in a typical kindergarten setting. German educationalist and researcher Dr. Peter Hafner (2003) examined the abilities of students who attend forest kindergartens compared to their regular kindergarten peers. He found children from forest kindergartens were much better in three necessary areas: motivation, concentration/social behavior and class participation. Hafner noted the renunciation of standard toys also inspired greater verbal communication among these children (p. 3). Studies by Play Scotland (2005), the leading Scottish body for play, found children who attend outdoor kindergartens are strong, confident and good at problem solving due to the freedom to explore and inherent challenges provided by their high-quality outdoor play experiences (Savin, p. 3). These outdoor experiences can also boost test scores. The California Department of Education found in a 2005 study that schools who used the outdoor classroom as a frequent context for learning saw their students testing scores in science improve by 27 percent. Significant gains were also observed in the areas of mathematics, social studies and language arts (Louv, 2007, p. 4). Reported academic benefits are not only found in studies but in reports from first-grade teachers whose students previously attended forest kindergartens. Evelyn Schulle, a teacher and founder of an integrated forest kindergarten, said, What I usually hear is that the children from my kindergarten listen more carefully than others, are more patient and can solve problems more easily than others (2007). Others report higher concentration levels due to an increased ability to focus on the task at hand (Kremkus, D., personal communication, February 16, 2007). A 2003 forest school study from the United Kingdom by Murray that examined a forest school primarily designed to service low-income children found those children who appeared vulnerable and easily upset at beginning sessions, often due to problems at home and separation anxiety issues,
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens demonstrated significantly higher levels of self confidence and success as the program progressed. These experiences can have a significant impact on future classroom experience. According to teachers, these children are at least as prepared as their peers to enter first grade,
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and their entrance to the classroom is accompanied by a rich set of life experiences due to forest kindergarten experiences. These studies effectively disprove accusations that students run wild in the forest without purpose and have few opportunities for real learning. By not sitting at a desk and discussing what cannot be seen, a forest kindergarten provides richer experiences for its students as they interact with objects to form their own meanings and understandings. The multi-year atmosphere most forest kindergartens provide makes developmental differences which stick out in a typical kindergarten non-existent. No children need to be redshirted for a year. In these small, intimate settings, three- to six-year-old students learn the importance of the group and social relationships through nearly constant interactions and play with their peers. The multi-age dimension of the groups requires older students to guide and look out for their younger counterparts (Schoenebaum, B., personal communication, February 1, 2007). This pro-social behavior, noted by giving, helping, sharing and comforting behaviors, is a key indicator of successful social skills. With distractions minimized due to the absence of toys and noise reflecting from walls or surrounding rooms, young students are more able to focus attention on one another. According to Lacis (2007), this is often observed in forest kindergartens. You wait for slower/weaker/younger children as they are lost without you, so were you when you were young. She said children remember these behaviors of kindness and reciprocate by helping younger children as they mature and take on a leadership role in the kindergarten (2007). This relationship is natural since in the forest, small situations can get serious, and each student must contribute to the group if obstacles are to be tackled.
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Development of group behavior, especially realized through successful group conversations, is essential since in most out-of-school activities students are discouraged from
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free talk. These groups, such as soccer teams and Girl Scouts, are more geared toward individual development than the creation of a successful group. In a forest kindergarten, as children are given the autonomy to make decisions in groups, they learn the communication strategies necessary to make decisions and reach effective compromises. These skills must be taught young to successfully develop, and forest kindergartens provide that opportunity (Clements, 2000, p. 203). Small group sizes also allow frequent opportunities for all students to take on leadership roles, whether it is organizing the collection of same-size sticks for fort building or watching the tea kettle to see when hot water will be ready for the group to drink. Opportunities must be presented for students to develop these skills, and a focus on social skills must be integrated into existing state standards in the United States. Unfortunately today, camps currently provide American students with the highest amount of access to nature. Many students attend camps part- or full-time over the summer for periods of one week or more. While camps are somewhat effective in providing nature experiences to children, they are often highly structured, allowing few chances for participants to actually experienced nature. Approximately 12,000 of these camps exist across the United States and offer various focuses. Some are nature-centered, providing experiences fire building and tent pitching, along with miles of hiking trails. An example is Camp Woods Play in New York. Director Marcie Matthews started the camp in 2005 to provide necessary nature experiences for children she felt spend too much time indoors. Matthews said she found the camp to be a major success in providing students with these experiences. When they were out in nature, they seemed to drink it in with every pore of their bodies (Personal communication, February 11,
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens 2007). However, Matthews only saw the children for a few hours a day for one to two week
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sessions. She found this was nowhere near enough to resolve the severe need the children had for nature.
From Hands-On to Hands-Off: How Abstraction is Replacing Experience If the pushed-down academics of kindergarten do not create enough problems, premature abstraction of content most surely makes up for it. Abstraction, in this sense, is the process through which a concept or idea is presented separate from physical experiences. Through abstraction, children recognize new experiences as sharing qualities similar with previous findings. In primary schools in the United States today, premature abstraction is the norm. Due to factors such as an increased amount of content to cover which leaves seemingly less time for indepth lessons, educators are replacing primary experiences with nature and other phenomena with one-way experiences with non-reactionary, abstract materials. George Maxim (1997), professor of childhood studies and reading at West Chester University, found that through preschool and primary years, childrens ability to physically experience and manipulate objects represents the primary way they gain knowledge of the objects themselves (p. 42). These experiences help children discover new ways to represent objects as they begin to think more abstractly. For example, students who have physically experienced a farm are more likely to later transition to using blocks and paper shapes to represent the farm buildings. This beginning ability of four to six year olds to think abstractly grows gradually through these experiences. Although many criticize technology as the signifier of a move toward abstraction, Lowell Monke (2005) said this trend began long before the introduction of computers into the
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens classroom. Even relying on books too much or too early inhibits the ability of children to develop direct relationships with the subjects they are studying (p. 1). Due to the strong
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qualities of books and computers to transport people to a different world, individuals come to the incorrect understanding that the overwhelming amounts of information available via these sources can somehow replace real-life experiences. Wherever they turn, students are being inundated with symbolic representations for physical objects, often before they have had a chance to connect with the physical objects. For example, how can a tree be experienced through a website? While a website may provide facts about the a trees origin and history, an incredibly essential physical experience is being neglected. Children need opportunities to experience real trees with their five senses before they can successfully comprehend abstract information about them. The rush toward abstraction has been addressed uniquely in mathematics instruction in many school districts. Due to an inability to connect the abstract signs and symbols on their papers to the real world, more and more children began displaying signs of math phobias in the primary grades. Instruction focused on the procedures on mathematics instead of their applications to everyday life. Rote memorization of facts was a highly rewarded skill. Textbooks and curriculum guides reflected this approach, making it all too easy for teachers to perpetuate its ideals. Failure resulted when children did not have enough concrete experiences to construct relationships with objects before transitioning to formal operations. Although abstract mathematics can successfully be learned through this process by a small number of students over time, concrete connections to the real world help solidify learning for all children, especially in beginning learners.
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Over the past two decades, mathematics instruction has been reinvigorated by the introduction of concrete materials. These hands-on manipulatives include Cuisinaire rods,
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fraction bars and clocks. Numerous opportunities must be presented for students to engage with these materials before more abstract numerals and concepts are introduced. In addition to manipulatives, mathematical procedures are now connected to real-life problems and experiences (Sobel, 2007, p. 2). Now, children receive many experiences when learning a concept such as addition. They might begin by adding together physical apples, then transition to cubes with one cube representing each apple. As abstract thinking develops, appropriately supported by concrete experiences, these physical manipulatives may give way to tally marks and eventually to the numbers themselves. This mode of concept acquisition is essential since, as Stice (1987) found, students retain only 10 percent of what they read, 26 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see, 50 percent of what they see and hear and 70 percent of what they say. However, learners remember 90 percent of what they do (Felder & Henriques, 1995, p. 28). Tall (1994) argued that the continuation of these methods is necessary for the development of successful mathematicians later in life; he said it is only when children are immersed in an environment where they can construct their own knowledge from experiences that they will learn to think mathematically (p. 2). The National Science Teachers Association (2002) recognized the importance of this type of instruction in science. In a position paper outlining essential practices in an elementary school science classroom, they prioritized first-hand experiences and investigation as most essential; however, to be effective, they note these experiences must build on a students conceptual framework (p. 1). This movement must occur across the board in primary school instruction, especially in kindergartens.
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Children are prematurely being asked to think about and respond to complex environmental problems when they have never had a chance to connect with the natural world and become close to it. As Sobel put it, So much of environmental education has become a
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didactic focus on the dispersion of environmental facts. Instead, children need an immersion into nature. Sobel (2007) argued that one transcendent nature experience is of equal worth to a thousand nature facts. Opportunities to experience nature, provided each day by forest kindergartens, will help create future developing generations that will display a vested interest in the planet due to their early childhood experiences. Encouraging and providing opportunities to develop this indirect side-effect may be necessary as debates over how to address global warming escalate and sustainable living becomes more commonplace. In a similar style, and with increased emphasis, learning must allow primary aged students to make appropriate concrete connections with their environment. Before students can create understanding from abstract information, they must be able to connect what they know about the information to their concrete experiences. Uri Wilensky (1991), researcher at the Center for Concrete Operations at Northwestern University, suggested the definition of concreteness is directly tied to the number of connections a person has between one object and other objects. As students have numerous opportunities to play with, experience and discover a new object, the object becomes more concrete for the student based on these experiences. Concreteness, then, is that property which measures the degree of our relatedness to the object (p. 1). Any object can be made concrete for learners, even those not frequently associated with the senses. For example, textured letters can allow beginning readers to touch and feel the alphabet, and moveable letters allow new writers to manipulate words. While the letters are primarily an abstract concept, they become concrete for the learner as students experience
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multiple modes of engagement with them and a sufficiently rich collection of models to represent them (Wilensky, p. 5). Especially in kindergarten, efforts toward concreteness require multiple opportunities for engagement with physical manifestations of the concept, in addition to a diverse collection of models to represent the concept in real ways for the students. Real-life experiences with objects also increases student interest and curiosity about the materials, supplementing opportunities for later successful studies. Without these methods, von Glasersfeld (1989) believed teaching would remain a hit-or-miss affair, with diminished prospects of success for all parties (p. 1). Schools directed under the educational philosophy of Maria Montessori adopt this philosophy to benefit their youngest students. The Orno Montessori School in Wayzata, Minnesota, provides a vast assortment of sensory experiences to accompany every concept taught in the classroom. Land and water formations are initially taught through threedimensional models. Students demonstrate their understanding of words such as run and march through full body experiences as they act the concept out (Kindergarten curriculum, n.d., p. 1). The Green Mountain Montessori School in Essex, Virginia, takes a similar approach, using materials designed to always present a concept concretely. These materials tend to be isolated and seek to teach only one concept at a time (Our Montessori, n.d., p. 1). Concrete preoperational experiences are not, and should not, be limited to the classroom; instead, they are well suited to the out of doors. As L.B. Sharp, author of Outside the Classroom commented, objects occurring in or dealing with nature should be taught there (Dissinger, 1987, p. 1). Child development theorist John Dewey took Sharps belief a step further. He believed all studies arise from aspects of the earth and the lives lived upon it. Because of this, Dewey felt the outdoor environment could provide meaningful contextual experiences to complement and
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens expanded instruction in all subject areas (Knapp & Woodhouse, 2000, p. 1). These activities could include role playing, where students attempt to take on the characteristics, feelings and essential qualities of a natural object of their choice. Through the role play, students develop language skills and learn to connect their mental symbols with concrete objects. Another example could be the collection and sorting of different natural materials by the students based on characteristics; this demonstrates the fluidity of relationships between objects. While
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classification tasks may be difficult for students this age, appropriate experiences with concrete materials allow them to make attempts at the task earlier (Hrecz, 1995, p. 1). No foreign materials representing other concepts are introduced to the forest. By relying on natural materials to teach all educational concepts, forest kindergartens successfully provide concrete experiences for students who desperately need them. Here learning is active as students engage in nature with all their senses. Forest kindergartens provide necessary immersion experiences with natural objects to ensure children have a database of experiences to draw from to produce real meaning as adults. These concrete experiences are also necessary because they provide children with direct exposure to the natural world. Loose parts in the forest provide an appropriate avenue through which students can develop abstract thinking skills. As students use simple objects, such as sticks, to represent more complex objects, they practice high levels of abstraction appropriate to their ability levels. These experiences also help students develop strong language skills which are essential to abstract thinking. Language abilities developed young benefit students through their educational career and life experiences. Through concrete experiences, children also build their knowledge of the objects being used; for example, while making mathematical connections by sorting pebbles, they are also building their understanding of a pebble and its qualities.
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The educational freedom allowed in a forest kindergarten also allows children significant amounts of time to interact with the objects they are surrounded with. A mere 30-second exposure to a rock is not enough to guarantee learning cementation. As D. H. Lawrence said: Weve done the globe and the globe is done. This is quite true, superficially. On the surfaces horizontally, weve been everywhere and done everything, we know all about it. Yet the more we know, the less we penetrate, vertically. Its all very well skimming across the surface of the ocean and saying you know all about the sea (Last Child, p. 57-58). Students must be allowed extensive periods of time to interact with in-depth materials, especially on their first exposure, so deeper meaning can be created. Time for reflection must also be allowed. It is through reflection that students reorganize the ideas they discovered about an object or concept; this is done through times of conflict and times of visible inactivity and reflection. Significant opportunities are provided for learners to reflect on their experiences in a forest kindergarten. In this manner, students continuously reorganize their ideas and experiences to reach increasing levels of complexity (Cobb, Wood & Yackel, 1990, p. 496). Storytelling in a forest kindergarten also provides ample opportunities for students to exercise abstract thinking to an appropriate degree. Daily story time is present in nearly every forest kindergarten, with students gathering with their teachers over a communal book. As appropriate, students experiences with the book do not end as the story itself does. When the story concludes, students are often given opportunities to participate in both concrete and abstract activities relative to the story. Children might create concrete connections with the story by assuming roles of the characters and acting the story out. This experience engages their bodies physically and creates long-lasting memories. More abstractly, students might be asked to create an alternate ending to the story. For this task, they would call upon past concrete experiences to create a more abstract ending. They may relate their retelling orally, using necessary language skills supplemented by their forest kindergarten experience.
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Although the eventual goal of education is to move students away from a dependence on concrete learning to a level of successful abstraction, this must be done gradually and when it is developmentally appropriate. This engagement of the body and mind through concrete experiences are necessary for the mind to draw abstract connections between concepts and ideas. Computers and technology provide users with a vast assortment of symbols, and concrete physical experiences with real-life materials are necessary in order to understand these symbols later in life (Monke, 2007, p. 2). By having these experiences as a child through forest kindergartens, students will be better prepared to enter an increasingly technologically driven society as adults. As Nietzsche wrote, The more abstract the truth you wish to teach, the more you need to seduce the senses to it (Johnston, 2003, p. 1).
A Bright Future, Even Green Despite the overwhelming presence of developmentally inappropriate education in the United States, there is hope for the future. In addition to the nature preschools mentioned in brief above, other positive examples of outdoor play and nature integration into the classroom exist at the kindergarten level in the United States. Scattered across the country, these schools, centers and initiatives show how the outdoor environment can be worked into even the most academic settings. The overwhelming majority of these initiatives are occurring at charter and private schools. At Prairie Crossing Charter School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, students spend two hours outside each day on average. Kindergarten teacher Shirley Berger said the school tries to integrate all subject areas into these outdoor experiences. We read stories, do environmental projects, take nature hikes in the prairie and on trails, visit and do projects at our on-site working farm, even go to the outdoor flag pole to say the pledge (Personal communication, January 30,
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens 2007). The Ridge and Valley Charter School in Blairstown, New Jersey uses the increased freedom provided by its charter school status to take children outdoors for up to 25 percent of each school day. Visits outdoors have educational and non-educational purposes, such as sledding (http://www.ridgeandvalley.org/). The Franciscan Life Process Center in Lowell, Michigan operates an almost entirely outdoor preschool program in the fall and spring, and provides at least 30 to 45 minutes of outdoor experiences a day during the winter. Students interact with nature and domesticated
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animals during farm, orchard and wood visits. Through direct observations with nature, students receive practical experiences by studying variations in seeds, soil and rocks (Savino, D., personal communication, March 2, 2007). At Boulder Journey School in Boulder, Colorado, students time outside is spaced out throughout the day, with students enjoying half-hour to 45-minute outdoor experiences every few hours. These breaks not only provide students with necessary outdoor experiences, they also provide chances for students to re-charge their batteries before another academic lesson. Even though a significant portion of the day is spent indoors, school co-director Allison Maher said this is necessary so students can connect with the natural world in both areas. The school adopts the outlook that all materialsman-made, recycled and natural provide children with new opportunities to learn about the world around them. Due to climatic limitations, Maher said some materials not well-suited for outdoor use must be used with children indoors (Personal communication, February 18, 2007). Successful state-run programs are also increasing the presence of limited outdoor education experiences in schools. The Wisconsin School Forest Program (WSFP) attempts to provide all students in the state with at least one experience in the forest each year. This program now includes more than 300 registered school forests. The WSFP believes even with just one
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens school forest experience a year, students are left more prepared to participate in discussions
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about sustainability, have a stronger conservation ethic and display higher rates of environmental literacy (http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/leaf/SF/index.htm). Educator Jeremy Solin said visits to the forest have a lasting impact on children and leave them more willing to share what they have learned with their families. Because there is so little time spent outdoors during school, these outdoor experiences have a real unique and memorable aspect to them, Solin said (Personal communication, February 21, 2007). Imagine what enormous impact this program could have if it was expanded to include regular forest visits, not just as isolated learning experiences but as integrated parts of the curriculum. Recent legislation in California, New Mexico and Washington demonstrates state-wide efforts to ensure fewer children are being left inside each year. The wide-spread importance of these bills can be seen in their diverse sponsor lists, ranging from hunting groups to the Sierra Club to health organizations such as the American Diabetes Association. The New Mexico Outdoor Classroom Initiative, signed into law on March 15, 2007, seeks to increase outdoor education across the state by integrating current state resources, including state parks, federal public lands, ranches and nature centers, into formal education through schools. The first of its kind in the country, the bill provides for teacher training institutes and curriculum development. Funds are available for transportation of students to and from outdoor areas and educational materials necessary for use in the classroom (Casaus, 2007, p.1). The bill has a unique focus on incorporating service learning opportunities into outdoor experiences. California and Washington bills, at various stages in the legislative process, have focuses significantly different from the Outdoor Classroom Initiative. Both explicitly target underserved and at-risk populations in their initiatives, and a majority of funds accessible through the bills would be earmarked to these
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communities. Focuses of these bills include increasing standardized test scores and the ability of students to meet state standards. While these two bills are necessary in the experiences they provide for often overlooked communities, their narrow focus and delivery through outdoor recreation programs are being challenged (Padilla, 2007, p.1-4, and House bill, 2007, p. 1-5). Campaigns by national and international non-profit organizations are doing their part to rectify the damage being caused by childrens growing disconnect from nature. Green Hour, a program of the National Wildlife Foundation, encourages parents to provide their young children with a green hour each day. This is an hour of unstructured play where children can interact with their natural world while receiving innumerable benefits. No strict rules govern green hours, and they can occur in almost setting, from a backyard to a garden to a neighborhood park. One family featured on the Green Hour website decided to each adopt and name a tree they could follow and observe throughout the seasons. Message boards and discussion forums provide parents with supplemental resources they can use when taking their child into the great outdoors (http://www.greenhour.org). Approaching the problems noticed within their own institution, the United States Forest Services More Kids in the Woods campaign encourages nature-based learning to providing meaningful and lasting connections between kids and nature. Still in the pilot stages, the concept originated due to studies detailing the importance of nature experiences in childrens development of a conservation ethic. The program hopes to ensure future stewardship of public lands and waters (http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/woods/index.shtml). While these broad campaigns may prove extremely effective, they provide few opportunities for participating organizations to observe and quantify the effect of their programs on a wide-spread participant base. These programs also rely on parent participation for the children to see benefits. The Sierra Clubs
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Inner City Outings program offers something different, providing inner city youth with their first trips to wilderness. The program is driven by student interest and engages participants in natureimmersion through trips to wild areas (www.sierraclub.org/ico). Impacts of this program are easily quantifiable. Green Hearts Institute for Nature in Childhood, a recently founded non-profit organization, provides strong promise for the future of outdoor learning at the preschool and kindergarten level. The organization seeks to build on the nature experiences currently provided by American schools by starting a network of nature preschools in the United States. Similar to forest kindergartens, children will participate in outdoor experiences, rain or shine, in pursuit of general and nature knowledge. The sites will include traditional classroom buildings employed on a regular basis, but the goal of the classrooms will be to blur the typical boundaries between inside and out. This will be accomplished through the incorporation of architectural and design elements in classrooms including green plants, classroom pets appropriate to the ecosystem and a door allowing easy access outside from each classroom (K. Finch, personal communication, January 26, 2007). Founded and director Ken Finch said he believes the nature preschool model he has created is highly replicable, fiscally sustainable and adaptable to a wide range of socioeconomic conditions (The Everything, 2007, p. 1-6). Income will be generated for the centers because they will remain open for nature lessons and meeting spaces for other organizations on weekends and after-school hours. The centers will be privately operated and, despite their selfsustaining tendencies, will still charge tuition rates comparable to other high quality local education centers. Although many parents do pay top dollar for private preschools and kindergartens to give their children a head start, every child, regardless of income, must be
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens afforded the opportunity to attend a developmentally appropriate school that responds to the needs of the child. Isolated programs such as this one, while effective and innovative, are nowhere near enough. Situated at the forefront of a major education trend, Green Hearts preschools must take the initiative in offering early childhood educators instruction on how to use the outdoor
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environment as a context for learning. This will help bridge the gap between private and public schools outdoor education capabilities. Formal and non-formal educators and environmentalists alike cite lack of teacher training and comfort with outdoor education as a major barrier to integration of forest kindergartens into the United States educational system. According to educational researcher Julie Davis, research has shown teachers do not know how to create integrated curriculum units that unite outdoor learning with academic subjects such as science, math and English. Davis said many teachers today unfortunately believe real learning can only occur in classrooms at desks, and preferably with a pen in hand (Personal communication, February 8, 2007). Jeremy Solin of the Wisconsin School Forest Program sees the trend reflected in the hundreds of teachers he interacts with each year. He said teachers feel very uncomfortable teaching outside. They attended school outside, learned to teach inside and spent very little time outdoors, he said. So its not surprising that they arent comfortable teaching outdoors (2007). Because of this, professional development opportunities must provide teachers with more than education about the necessity of forest kindergarten programs. They must go a step further, teaching about nature itself and providing information and resources to assist teachers in learning about nature on their own. With Green Hearts preschools as model school sites, professional development experiences related to nature will engage teachers since they will be able to directly observe the
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens impacts of outdoor education. These opportunities should include observational learning at a Green Hearts preschools or similar outdoor kindergarten near the start of a teachers outdoor learning education. Early observations will allow teachers to connect the concepts they learn throughout the educational in-service with the concrete actions of the children they observed.
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Many European forest kindergartens began in this manner, since the close geographic proximity of neighboring countries in Europe permitts easy movement to visit and observe successful and innovative educational models in other countries. Over time, these opportunities can expand to include observations at schools who adopted forest kindergarten aspects to varying degrees after their education in the method. While several teacher training programs in Europe allow for international work experiences, demanding course loads and internship opportunities in United States teacher education programs, coupled with an increased focus on extra-curricular activities, leave most pre-service teachers with no opportunities to observe pioneering education programs at home or abroad. According to Lacis (2007), this means the United States educational system operates without inputs of fresh blood. Instead, prospective and current teachers receive an inundation of experiences that focus on the inappropriately academic classroom as the only responsible context for learning. When the outdoor environment is mentioned at all, it is as an afterthought. Although America does have a diverse range of schooling options, most pre-service teachers experience only a traditional classroom environment. With Green Heart schools popping up all over the country, teacher candidates will be able to observe and teach a new philosophy of education without leaving the country. College and university teacher preparatory programs must do their part to ensure future teachers are well prepared to use the outdoors for learning, both from a practical and academic
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens perspective. All teaching methods classes where candidates learn how to provide appropriate
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instruction in a respective academic discipline must include minimum at least one class period on how to use the outdoors effectively in instruction. While these classes should originally focus on early childhood education due to its increased flexibility to adopt all-outdoor learning opportunities, they can and should expand to include all grades and settings. Site visits to educational facilities that incorporate outdoor education, such as Green Hearts nature schools, must take place, and students should be placed whenever possible in at least one school that incorporates outdoor learning as part of their pre-service training. Professional development opportunities must take place that further this mission on college campuses. Project Learning Tree, Project Wet and Project Wild, in addition to similar curricular programs, must be brought to campuses at a dramatically increased rate. These environmental curriculum programs instruct educators on how to use the outdoor environment, specifically through trees, the water cycle and naturally occurring plants and animals, to enhance learning for students. Despite their short time frame, these environmental workshops provide participants with a curriculum full of hands-on activities that help students develop both an appreciation for the environment and a desire to make it better. Integration of these opportunities into graduation requirements could even be considered. These programs will strengthen the qualifications of all graduates, especially kindergarten teachers School districts across the country must adopt individual action plans detailing their increased commitment to using the outdoors as an educational context, starting squarely with kindergarten. These plans must immediately begin with the reinstatement of recess in every elementary schools across the country due to the innumerable social, physical and intellectual benefits it can provide. School goals related to increasing outdoor education should be created
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due to the direct effect outdoor experiences have proven to have on academic achievement. For a short-term goal, this could include asking each kindergarten teacher to bring their students outside one time per month for curricular activities. It could also include integrating yearly seminars and professional development opportunities related to outdoor education for teachers into the regular professional development schedule. Long-term goals might include daily outdoor education opportunities for students, documenting findings showing the impact of added outdoor experiences on student achievement and well-being and the establishment of public forest kindergartens. Green space requirements must also be integrated into school district land procurement policies. While school districts cannot be expected to immediately sell current land and revamp their district set-up entirely, revised procurement plans can detail how the district will deal with land acquisitions and purchasing decisions in the future. Opportunities to purchase natural areas adjacent to schools must be monopolized whenever possible to expand the potential school environment. Where movement of schools and land purchase is not an option, schools must work to make their current land more wild and natural. This could include the planting of native trees and shrubs and the removal of blacktop from parts of the playground. These simple to maintain and inexpensive decisions will create increased areas for unstructured, creative play. Newly designed areas can also be used effectively by well-trained classroom teachers for instruction across all disciplines. In areas such as these, learnscaping will occur. An extension of the classroom so that what is outside the doors becomes an outdoor classroom, learnscaping works to blur the boundaries between a schools physical landscape and its teaching and learning (Davis, 2006, p. 1). The barren nature of most schoolyards today will first require a commitment to more natural ideals if learnscaping is to occur effectively.
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens Full-time forest kindergartens will not be an immediate, feasible option for all school districts. Luckily, studies of forest kindergartens have found significant benefits are still
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observed in children even when outdoor education only occurs part time. In one study, children who attended forest kindergarten two times per week for six weeks showed dramatic improvements in communication skills by the end of the program, were more adventurous and were more likely to spend time outdoors with their parents than before the program started (Wallis, 2004, p. 1). However, a similar study of the same schools demonstrated that many children do require regular attendance over an extended period of time to become familiar and confident with any type of schooling, including outdoor forest schooling. This time period can vary based on a students familiarity with the outdoor environment and their previous out-ofhome experiences (Murray & OBrien, 2006, p. 49). Because of this, efforts toward the presence of traditional forest kindergartens in the United States must be maintained even as schools implement facets of outdoor education into their early childhood curriculum. While using a schools landscaped surrounding areas for outdoor education can be effective, the structure and layout of the woodlands offers particular advantages over other habitats in encouraging creativity and exploration. For those schools financially and educationally ready to move beyond schoolyard outdoor education programs, forest kindergarten programs will be most successful if they begin slowly and are accompanied by high amounts of community education. This could mean forest kindergartens begin as satellite programs to traditional, more academic kindergartens. In these integrated forest kindergartens, groups of children could take turns spending every third week in the forest. Parents would still bring their children to the school everyday, and then students would be bused to the nature location used for the kindergarten when appropriate. Outdoor
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens education would still be integrated into the childrens daily experiences at the school, and the
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two sets of experiences would meld fluidly into one another. This slow integration could provide innumerable benefits for children, while concurrently allowing the schools time to train their educators and staff to use the forest environment most effectively. Over time, daily forest experiences could be provided to students as weeks in nature were slowly added. The Four Seasons, a Danish kindergarten, is a prime example of a school integrating academic and outdoor education. Located in a highly industrial area, the school shows how nearly any environment can be converted into a suitable educational and play setting for children. Students spend up to 80 percent of their time outside on a given day (Burlingame, 2005, p. 2). Educational programming and community discussions are necessary in all situations because most citizens do not consider outdoor education to be mainstream education and in such are reluctant to fully invest their time and resources in it. Parents may also be hesitant that such programs will put their child at an academic disadvantage in an increasingly competitive world. Informative sessions should include proven facts about the multi-faceted benefits of forest kindergartens, sample outdoor activities with teachers and question-and-answer periods to allow parents and community members to voice comments and concerns. As these programs begin with forest kindergartens and slowly move their way up the grades, parents will become more accustomed to outdoor education and its goals and more accepting of its principles over time. Efforts must be taken to ensure some of the most basic benefits provided by forest kindergartens are not neglected as outdoor education becomes integrated fully into schools. The unique nature of parental involvement in forest kindergartens must be maintained. Currently 47 percent of parents, mostly women, respond they volunteer in their primary childs classroom at least one time per year (Parental Involvement, 2003, p. 1). However, parental involvement
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens must diversify and become more regular if forest kindergartens are to experience the greatest possible range of success. The unique ability of nature programs to appeal to male volunteers
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must be utilized, and fathers and paternal guardians must be invited into the classroom and forest with the students to share their talents and skills. This could range from walking with the students and teacher on a nature hike to sharing talents at wood whittling with the students. This focus is necessary because young children benefit from the presence of both male and female role models. Parental involvement must also move from a passive to active in nature as parents assist in the classroom and on explorations. Parents could sign up to spend a day or even an hour helping with outdoor education programs at the school on a regular basis. Those unable to help during school hours could volunteer to do plantings on school grounds or walk the trails and pick up litter in the forest property. Busy parents can help their children partake in a daily green hour at home that will get them outside and moving. These forms of parental involvement have been found to have significant academic impacts (Cotton and Wikelund, 1989, p. 1). With a wide range of opportunities and possibilities, parents from all educational, economic and social backgrounds will feel encouraged to volunteer as able in the classroom and natural areas. Other efforts must be taken to ensure that forest kindergartens in the United States do not become an extension of the classroom but a compliment to it. The current academic focus of kindergartens must be adjusted to value social skill development, physical and emotional health and behavioral successes, in addition to academic learning. Forest kindergartens must not and cannot become just another setting for worksheet completion and paper and pencil tasks. Instead, a focus must be placed on using the environment and its resources as a context for learning. In this manner, students will become engaged in their lessons in multiple formats, increasing their potential for learning. Flexible learning must be allowed where students can master content at
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens their own pace as they become ready for it. This practice will decrease redshirting since opportunities for all students to succeed will increase. The physical benefits of forest kindergartens must also be maintained as the schools transition, despite the law-suit rich culture of America. Naturalist Richard Louv noted that the
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fear of liability ranks right behind the fear of child abduction as a deterrent to natural play. Every day sees the addition of more signs limiting childrens use of natural areas. Fear of injury, and the lawsuits that follow it, restrict children from playing freely. They must walk, not run. They must examine trees from the ground, not scale their heights, learning their own strengths in the process. Flowers must not be picked or touched, only smelled. For children to benefit fully from their outdoor experiences, this point of view must change. Louv calls for this change to include a nationwide review of laws overseeing private land and its recreational uses, particularly among children (Last Child, p. 234). Forest kindergartens must alter the typical schoolyard rules limiting natural movement. Fear of a few bumps and bruises must not be enough to limit gross and fine motor skill development. The move towards education programs using the outdoors as a context for learning must not end in the school yard. Concurrently with the push to integrate outdoor learning into the schools, efforts must be made to teach non-traditional educators in nature centers, museums and zoos how to use these techniques in their own programming. A successful example is the Docent Council and Educational Department of the Philadelphia Zoo in Pennsylvania. Realizing its programs on habitat deforestation and the rapid loss of endangered species were causing more harm then good, the department recently restructured its educational programming to encourage children to love nature, rather than fear it. Programs were redesigned to nurture a feeling of safety in children and decrease ecophobia by providing ample opportunities for children to
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens experience nature, rather than its problems. Now programs include movement and animal
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observations, allowing students time to bond with their world instead of sitting and being forcefed abstract ways to save something they do not know (Nevels & Solomon, 2002).
Let Children Be Children If children do not dip their toes into the waters of unsupervised social activity, they will never be able to swim in the sea of civic responsibility. If they have no opportunities to dig in the soil, discover the spiders, bugs, birds, and plants that populate even the smallest unpaved playgrounds, they will be less likely to explore, appreciate and protect nature as adults (Monke, 2005, p. 3).
Reshaping kindergarten is not only possible, its necessary. Since its early days in Germany, kindergarten programs have demonstrated their ability to rapidly change and adapt to various cultural situations and academic needs present in an area (Wollons, 2000, p. 3). Recognized by educators, parents and children alike for their developmentally appropriate, innovative practices, forest kindergartens provide a necessary balance to the technology rich, sedentary lives of children outside of school. Durrryn Junior and Infant Forest School in Wales summed up the benefits of forest kindergartens in a self-created acrostic poem. Freedom to have the Opportunity to Respect and respond to the Environment Safely Together. Self-esteem and Confidence is Higher because Of Outdoor Learning (#218). Through the use of innovative educational tools, forest kindergartens effectively address current detrimental aspects of the United States educational system. By focusing on play and natural learning experiences, these schools provide developmentally appropriate instructional opportunities for children. Their concrete, hands-on nature allows significant abstraction to be saved for the older grades, while providing children with the experiences they need to be successful abstract thinkers as adults. Public educational opportunities, accompanied by school
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens district commitments to outdoor education, will help sustain the effort through its school
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integration period and lead directly to the creation of a network of public forest kindergartens in school districts across the country. Educators and other adults must make a concerted effort to ensure that every young child is brought outside to experience nature. Mother Nature will take care of the rest.
Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens References
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Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

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Mother Nature, Meet Forest Kindergartens

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