Play and Learning Outdoors: Engaging with the Natural World Using Forest School in the UK

Abstract

Natural play occurs when children explore and enjoy the natural environment through their freely chosen play (Natural England 2014. Natural England: Childhood and nature: A survey on changing relationships with nature across generations). This chapter will discuss natural play as an approach to outdoor learning and examine its role in children's cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development using examples from research. The chapter will acknowledge the current decline in natural play opportunities for children in the UK, compared with that of previous generations, and describe how promoting natural play through Forest Schools has been shown as a promising strategy to resolve this issue. Forest Schools offer "all ages regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence through hands-on learning in a woodland environment" (Murray and O'Brien 2005. Such enthusiasm -a joy to see: An evaluation of Forest School in England, p. 11. http://www.forestresearch.gov. uk/website/forestresearch.nsf/ByUnique/INFD-6HKEMHS. Accessed 27 July 2014). The ethos, implementation, and outcomes of Forest Schools in the UK are outlined with supporting evidence. Finally, future directions will be described for natural play within Forest Schools as an approach for facilitating children's engagement with the natural environment. Reflections on recent programs and recommendations for future delivery strategies and implications for research will be also discussed.

(Re)thinking (re)connection: Young people, “natures” and the water–energy–food nexus in São Paulo State, Brazil

“…A second assumption for much work on childhoods–natures is that children's and young people's connections with nature have diminished since around the early–mid‐20th century, at least in several countries of the Minority Global North. The reasons for this are manifold and well‐rehearsed – from a decline in children's outdoor mobilities (Witten et al., ) to parental fears about children in urban spaces (Pain, ) to concerns about contemporary consumption trends and technologies (Austin et al., ). Almost universally, such forms of disconnection are considered to be negative – both because they compromise the positive effects of nature cited above, and because they introduce a range of negative effects (and affects), including biophobia, negative mental and physical health outcomes, and various forms of social exclusion (Louv's () “nature‐deficit disorder” being perhaps the best‐known exposition of this argument).…”

“…This assumption of increasing degrees of dis connection has led to the development of whole industries – academic, practitioner and media – around the steps that might be taken to (re)connect children and young people with nature. As Louv (, p. 3; emphasis added) has it, these rest on the promise of “a reunion of humans with the rest of nature”; on “[a] range of interventions that have been designed to address ‘ connectedness ’ to the outdoors” (Austin et al., , p. 121; emphasis added); and, therefore, on the centrality of discourses and practices of (re)connection in remedying a vast array of perceived ills (Malone, ). For many decades, various forms of environmental education have been charged with addressing these perceived forms of disconnection, as well as with resolving still‐wider concerns about global environmental change (Corner et al., ; Percy‐Smith & Burns, ; Walker, ).…”

New policy directions for global pond conservation

“…These incentives could be modified to ensure that the protection and creation/restoration of pond networks is rewarded at a rate greater than the sum of the individual ponds, provided collaborative agreements could be made between multiple landowners. (5)Education: Opportunities may exist for “pond schools” which parallel “forest schools” in their focus on nature as a core of education (Austin et al., ). Many schools in urban or rural landscapes could make greater use of nearby ponds to provide enhanced pedagogical and health benefits.…”

Exploring Gender Differences within Forest Schools as a Physical Activity Intervention

“…Roe and Aspinall [ 22 ] noted that while all children benefitted from FS, children deemed as having ‘poor’ behaviour showed more positive changes in mood, ‘quieter’ children by virtue of special educational needs or ‘normally shy’ [ 23 ] reported more confidence post FS sessions, and children increased their abilities to interact socially and express themselves, with positive developments in communication [ 19 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Forest Schools has also been used successfully to foster natural play [ 27 ], whereby children explore and enjoy the natural environment through their freely chosen play activities [ 28 ]. This allows children to have increased interactions with the natural environment, as well as increasing knowledge, interest, and sensitivity towards nature [ 29 , 30 ].…”

“…A limitation of the FS literature to date is that of small sample sizes, ranging from 10 to 24 participants [ 19 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 30 ], which thus offers low generalisability. The majority of FS research has been conducted to explore the associated benefits of FS, more so than the influences it can have on PA [ 19 , 23 , 24 , 26 , 27 , 32 , 36 ]. The dominance of qualitative and creative methodologies has, to date, offered rich, in-depth data from the participants [ 19 , 23 , 25 , 30 , 37 ] as well as the FS leaders [ 29 , 37 ].…”