What Are Forest Schools? Exploring the Benefits of Outdoor Learning
By Mia Barnes, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Body+Mind Magazine.
Spending time outdoors is vital to childhood development. However, how are children supposed to get sufficient time outside when they require supervision every minute and parents work long hours behind a desk? What are forest schools, and could they help your little one get the fresh air and sunshine they need?
Forest schools are an innovative concept that draws inspiration from ancient practices. What are the benefits, and is one right for your child? Learning about this educational alternative empowers you to make the best possible choices for your precious child.
What Are Forest Schools?
According to the Forest School Association, a Forest School is a child-focused and holistic approach to learning that promotes play, exploration and supported risk-taking. Forest schools meet in natural settings, such as national forests or state parks. They build confidence and competency through hands-on learning experiences in nature.
Forest schools focus on all aspects of child development — physical, intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual. Although they don’t typically align with a religious denomination, they inspire a deep and meaningful connection to the world. Forest schools strive to make all graduates into healthy, resilient, creative and independent learners capable of solving today’s tough issues through skills honed by solving real-world problems.

What Are the Basic Characteristics of Forest Schools?
Although forest schools may follow slightly different formats, they have several defining characteristics. One is that forest school is a long-term program. Although school does not take place outdoors full-time due to weather considerations and seasonal realities, each regular session consists of a long-term stint in the wilderness, not the occasional infrequent visits typical of ordinary field trips.
The consistency and length of each session matter for several reasons. For example, students may embark on a project that entails observing climate changes over several seasons — the only way to complete the research is to spend extended time in the field gathering the requisite data.
One pivotal goal of forest schools is to develop a lifelong relationship between learners and the natural world, which requires routine exposure. Research shows that spending time in the natural world in childhood fosters a deeper sense of environmental stewardship in adults.
In addition to the length of the program, five other basic principles that define forest schools include:
- Taking place in a woodland environment to inspire love for the natural world.
- Using a range of learner-centered processes to develop a strong educational community.
- Promoting the holistic development of all involved, fostering resilience and confidence.
- Offering opportunities to take supported risks appropriate for the environment and child’s developmental stage.
- Operated by qualified Forest School educators who go through a continual professional development process.
Do Forest Schools Teach the 3 Rs?
The unique emphasis the U.S. places on standardized testing has resulted in many schools teaching to the test while causing significant harm to certain learners. Obviously, schools must teach children the essential skills they need for success. However, Forest Schools reject the traditional academic model of sitting students at desks and issuing rewards or punishments based on “right” or “wrong” answers. Instead, they emphasize play-based learning.
Play-based learning is a child-centered strategy that harnesses a child’s interests and curiosities to teach them letter and word recognition and math and science concepts. The elements of play-based learning include:
- Individuality: Letting children choose the activity and providing more leeway over when they start and finish independently.
- Imagination: Expressing imagination fosters cognitive and social growth.
- Limited structure: Students proceed at their own pace and complete activities when they choose.
- Process: Instead of focusing on achieving the outcome, play-based learning focuses on the process of making discoveries.
- Fun: Play-based learning helps children associate learning with enjoyment, not frustration.
Play-based learning pairs well with the natural environment. Instead of scratching their heads in frustration as they sit at a desk, puzzling out a tough math problem, they might observe the activity of birds at a feeder or check on an experiment they have in progress. This mental switching to a different, albeit still educational task can lead to the breakthrough the child needs, allowing them to solve the problem and build their sense of agency and confidence.
Are Forest Schools Dangerous?
People often associate the forest with danger. Furthermore, they may have valid fears about their child disappearing. However, consider these statistics:
- Over 20,000 people lost their lives due to intentional acts of violence in America’s cities last year. Conversely, approximately 243 die in National Parks each year, often due to heat-related illness or otherwise failing to prepare for the elements, essential skills Forest Schools teach.
- As far as critters go, approximately eight people die yearly from being attacked or bitten by wildlife. Compare that to the 81 fatal attacks each year by domestic dogs.
A well-run and supervised Forest School can be far safer than one in a more populated environment. Soberingly, there were at least 82 school shootings in 2023. Forest Schools could provide many students a necessary psychological break from the daily fear inspired by lockdown drills.
What about the risk of wandering off? Teachers come prepared with phones, emergency plans and first aid to cover multiple contingencies. Many new Forest School teachers find their fears fade as children learn to heed boundaries and take supervised risks to discover their limits.
Are Forest Schools Public Schools?
Whether or not a Forest School is considered a public school depends on where it is located. Educational rules vary by country and even by state. However, in the U.S., the rise of the charter school movement has led to many cost-free alternatives for parents. For example, the Circle of Seasons Charter School in Fogelsville, PA, and the Pine Forest Charter School in Flagstaff, AZ, are only two of many.
Other Forest Schools operate as private schools. You’ll generally need to pay tuition, although you may have the option to apply for scholarships in some cases.
Are Forest Schools Only for Interventions?
A popular misconception is that Forest Schools are only intervention programs for troubled youth. This perspective likely stems from disciplinary programs that utilize the natural environment to rehabilitate youth who have had contact with the juvenile justice system or run the limit of their parent’s patience.
However, these wilderness therapy camps have come into public scrutiny after several deaths, and there’s no evidence this “tough love” approach works. It often leaves survivors even more traumatized, disconnecting them from sources of support and leading to lasting mental health problems.
Conversely, a Forest School isn’t designed for interventions or “tough love” but to nurture. While children are encouraged to take risks, they are fully supervised and only permitted if appropriate for a child’s developmental level — and spring from the child’s innate desire to attempt the feat. There’s no forcing children to rise at 4 a.m. or hike miles through the scorching heat.
Forest schools put fostering creativity and independence at the forefront of their educational philosophy. Wilderness therapy camps, conversely, demand obedience — there’s no room for personal exploration or growth, two of the primary aims of a Forest School.
Are There Prerequisites to Attend a Forest School?
Although individual schools may have their own rules, in general, there are no prerequisites for enrolling your child in a Forest School.
What Are the Benefits of Forest Schools?
Why should you consider enrolling your child in a Forest School? The following eight benefits may inspire you to sign up today.
1. Reduce Behavioral Problems
Although Forest Schools aren’t designed to address behavioral issues, improvement often occurs. Many behavioral problems stem from a lack of physical activity, but the environment of a Forest School itself encourages more movement. Furthermore, children are actively encouraged to use their full bodies for learning, resulting in much more exercise than they’d get at a desk.
2. Encourage Environmental Stewardship
The more time a child spends in nature when young, the better the chance they will act to protect her as adults. With climate change at a dangerous tipping point, instilling environmental stewardship is one of the best things parents can do to protect their children’s future.
3. Build Emotional Resilience
Being in the wilderness creates inherent challenges that test the human spirit. How do you react to the third day of rain in a row? Adapting to a changing environment fosters emotional resilience and the ability to remain positive in the face of adversity.
4. Develop Positive Relationships
You won’t hear “hush” at a Forest School unless you’re observing an elusive woodland critter. Otherwise, children are free to share ideas, fostering the development of positive peer relationships. Children are encouraged to work together on various projects, further promoting a sense of team spirit.
5. Improve Problem-Solving Skills
Forest School encourages children to conduct research and experiment, which inevitably leads to questions and roadblocks they must overcome. This exposure to real-world problem-solving helps them hone this skill for adult life.
6. Facilitate Focus and Concentration
Numerous studies show the power of the outdoors for improving focus and concentration by lowering stress levels. Some research suggests the natural sights and sounds produce the effect, while others propose negative ions as a potential factor. Although research continues on the underlying mechanism, it’s becoming harder to deny that simply being outdoors helps you think more clearly.
7. Practice Healthy Physical Behaviors
Many children fall well short of the WHO guidelines, which recommend children 5-18 years old get at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. Forest Schools provide children with plenty of time to run, skip and jump, developing their physical bodies alongside their intellectual growth.
8. Gain a Sense of Agency
A sense of agency is your belief that your actions make a difference — without it, you can fall into hopelessness, helplessness and despair. Forest Schools foster a sense of agency by providing ample opportunities for independent study and exploration, letting children discover for themselves how much they can do.
What Are Forest Schools?
Should your child go to school outside? After learning the benefits of Forest Schools, you may decide that this option is your best educational choice.
Forest schools take a more natural approach to education that fosters creativity, independence and a sense of agency. Your children master reading, math and science while treating themselves and all humans as a part of nature, not separate from it.
About the Author
Mia Barnes has been a freelance writer for over 4 years with expertise in healthy living and sustainability. Mia is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the online publication, Body+Mind Magazine.