Children's Activities Archives

What is Forest School?

Forest School Training in London is an inspirational alternative learning experience that takes outdoors in natural settings and across all seasons. Throughout a carefully planned programme of achievable tasks, play and activities, each participant has an opportunity to learn about and connect with the natural environment. For children today who may have limited opportunity to explore and be part of the nature world, Forest School can be the link to investigating and experiencing these magical places.

How it all started!

The Forest School Training movement in England was kickstarted by Bridgwater College, which established the first Forest School in Somerset in1993 after an inspiring trip to Danish nurseries run on Scandinavian Firlufts liv (open air life) principles. Since then, the Forest School Association charity has helped thousands of teachers and other professionals undertake Forest School training.

Forest School is a long-term approach to education for children and young people that maximises the benefits of learning in the outdoors. Forest School offers children the opportunity to engage with the rich natural diversity of the woodland environment to help build confidence, sensitivity, resilience and curiosity. The Forest School approach to learning in the outdoors is rooted in the key progressive education theorist of the past 150 years; from Froebel to Steiner, Vygotsky to Montessori; and Dewey to Gardeer. All of these theorists put the child at the centre of their own learning and underline the importance of children being allowed to explore the world with appropriate support.

Learning from the outdoors 🙂

Participating in Forest School London sessions can lead to the development of a healthier lifestyle as the children are physically active most of the time. During the sessions the children will participate in activities that will teach them how to work in teams and how to become more independent. Carrying out small achievable tasks or exploring ‘on your own’ (under the watchful eye of Forest School teachers and staff of course!) will help the children develop their confidence and teach them how to problem solve. Studies have looked at Forest School’s positive impact on confidence and dispositions for learning. A Scottish study recently found activity levels 2.2 times higher in a Forest School day than during a regular school day that included PE lessons!

Forest school can be particularly effective for children who don’t do well in classroom environments as they can take their new found self-confidence into school and other areas in their lives. Growing up in urban areas, many children are unfamiliar with woodlands. Forest School re-connects children to nature and hopefully forms a basis for a life-long relationship with their natural environment.

It sounds idyllic but yet it could trigger some parental alarm bells: what about the tools and the cold weather? The mantra that seems to be on the forefront of all Forest Schools is: ‘There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. If the children can brave the weather in Scandinavian countries in -10C, your child will be fine if they are wearing appropriate outdoor clothing. What about fire and tools? All the children are closely supervised when working with tools and fire. Part of the education in Forest School is safety training so that each child will learn how to use the tools responsibly and how to be safe at all times. Find out more about Holiday Academy’s Forest School program here.

Image source: www.coachingyciberoptimismo.blogspot.co.uk, www.eomega.org

Mindfulness for kids

Mindfulness has proven to be beneficial for adults (especially parents!). It allows parents to engage better with their parenting and provides the tools to allow for a calmer home environment 🙂 Children will, of course, also feel the stress of everyday life and mindfulness exercise can benefit them in the same way. This is why we have children’s yoga in the Holiday Academy programme – relaxing is fun! There is emerging research that indicates that mindfulness activities can improve attention span, calmness and it helps better decision making. So what is mindfulness actually? In short, it makes emotional regulation and cognitive focus easier. Mindfulness is ‘awareness’ – noticing thoughts, feeling bodily sensations and what is around us and happening right now.

Mindful Parenting

Mindful parenting is non judgmental. To incorporate mindfulness everyday, it’s good to start with a daily meditation, yoga or breathing practice. The purpose of teaching children mindfulness is to give them skills to develop their awareness of their inner and outer experiences, to recognize their thoughts as ‘just thoughts’, to understand how emotions manifest in the body and to provide tools for impulse control. To teach children (or any one for that matter) it’s worth practicing mindfulness yourself and mediation just 5-10 minutes a day. Find out more about mindfulness for adults here...

Image Source: www.thephysicaleducator.com

7 Ways to Teach Mindfulness to Kids

Bell Listening Exercise – This is an easy way for children to practice mindfulness.Ring a bell and ask your children to listen closely to the ringing sound until they can no longer hear it (usually takes 30 seconds to a minute). When they no longer can hear the bell ask them to tell you what sounds they noticed when they listened to the bell. This exercise is not only fun but it helps them connect to the present moment and the sensitivity of their perceptions.

1. Breathing Buddies – Give your children a soft toy as a breathing buddy and ask them to lie down on their backs with their ‘buddy’ on their belly. Instruct them to breath in silence for one minute and notice how their breathing buddy moves up and down. Ask them to focus their attention to the movements of their buddy and tell them to imagine that the thoughts that come into their minds turn into bubbles and float away.

2. Mindful walks – Make your walks mindful. When going for a walk with your children try to point out things in your surrounding that you have not noticed before. Designate one minute to walk in complete silence and simply pay attention to all the sounds around.

3. Gratitude exercises – Gratitude is a fundamental component of mindfulness. During family dinners have a moment of gratitude for your food. This simple dinner exercise teaches your children to appreciate the abundance in their lives.

4. The art of touch – Give your children different objects to touch, such as a ball, a feather, a soft toy or a stone, etc. Ask them to close their eyes and describe what the object feels like. This mindfulness exercise teach the kids the practice of isolating their senses from one another, and tuning into distinct experiences.

5. Mindful eating – Mindful eating is an experience that engages all the five senses. Tell your children to look, smell, taste and touch the food. By using all their senses your children will appreciate all of the characteristic of the food. They are more likely to savour the bites, eat slower, digest better and enjoy the meal more. You can find more about mindful eating here.

6. Smell & Tell – Pass something fragrant to your little one It could be anything from a piece of fresh orange peel or a spring from a jasmine flower, as long as it is pleasant and fragrant it should do. Ask them to close their eyes and breath in the scent, focusing all their attention to only the smell of the object. This is a great exercise as scent can really be a great tool for anxiety relief among other things.

7. The Heartbeat Exercise – This is a fun exercise that everyone will enjoy. Ask them to jump up and down in one place for one minute. Then ask them to sit back down and place their hands on their hearts, tell them to close their eyes and feel their heartbeats and their breath. You can also ask what else they notice about their bodies.

The most important thing is to remember to have fun and keep it simple. Some of the exercises will work and some won’t. If your children aren’t interested in one particular exercise, drop it, this will be a good time for you to practice non- attachment outcomes!

References:
www.mindful.org
www.huffingtonpost.com
www.mindbidygreen.com
www.blog.harvardvanguard.org
www.huffingtonpost.com

Forest School Training in London

Tag: Children’s Activities

December 9, 2016 By Natalie

Our Forest school leaders, Jane Worroll and Peter Houghton have written a superb book with amazing illustrations, ‘Play the Forest school Way’.

Find out more about our Forest School Programme here. Come and join us!