Here is a real example of how learning takes place at a forest school. The events below happened in the preschool program at Hidden Valley Forest School. Similar events happen here daily. When you read the text below, pay careful attention to the skillsets the children are learning and developing together, and how this experience is naturally contributing to their wellbeing and understanding of the world around them.
The Children and the Raccoon
Participants: Beth, age 5; Cary, age 4; Noah, age 2; Sammy age 2 (Names have been changed to protect the children’s identities).
Hidden Valley Forest School, Charlottesville, VA
Sitting at the picnic table outside, eating our lunch on an early afternoon in late March, Beth notices that one of the little play chairs was knocked over. The night before, she recalls, it was sitting up straight.
Ms. Bianca asks: “I wonder what happened that made the chair get knocked over.”
Beth answers: “An animal did it!”
Ms. Bianca: “I wonder what kind of animal did it.”
Cary answers: “Probably a racoon!”
Ms. Bianca: “Interesting. If it was a racoon, do you think it left any footprints behind?
Cary, Beth and Sammy get up from the table to go closely inspect the ground for footprints. They huddle together over a spot, looking closely at the ground to see if any footprints reveal themselves. They chat amongst themselves about this. Ms. Bianca walks over and notices a shape that resembles a footprint and points it out.
Beth jumps up with excitement and proclaims, “we must build a home for the raccoon!” She grabs the four little play chairs and puts them in a shape that resembles an animal home, with a roof. Cary corrects her friend, saying “we have to remove one chair, so the raccoon can have a door!” Cary and Beth then say they should leave the racoon some of their leftover food. They place a few pieces of cheese, a sweet pepper, and a grape under the new animal home they have built.
Both girls proceed to decorate the home by coloring it with wet chalk, creating different patterns on the wooden chairs.
Cary mentions that the racoon will likely need some water as well, so she runs to the nearby creek to collect water in the bowl, carefully bringing it back to the little animal house.
Little Noah is splashing in the creek, but stopped to notice Cary collecting water and bringing it back to the animal home. He imitates her action by collecting water in another bowl and brings it back to the house. He throws the water on the ground randomly, causing one of the sticks that Beth had carefully stuck on the wet ground to fall. This irritates Beth, who looks back up at Noah and says a bit harshly “Don’t tear down the stick, Noah!”
Ms. Bianca mentions that the stick might have fallen over because it wasn’t deep enough. She proceeds to push the stick in deeper, noticing out loud that if she gets the dirt a little wet, it creates mud, and the mud acts like a glue, holding the stick up right.
Sammy mentions enthusiastically “water and dirt make mud!”
Beth proceeds to copy Ms. Bianca and gently asks Noah to please bring some more water so she can make mud. Noah gets her more water and pours it right where she shows him to pour. She then turns to Noah and says “thank you Noah!” Noah heads back to the creek looking pleased with himself for helping out a bigger kid.
The kids then decide the house needs a roof. Beth notes that bark could make a good roof. Ms. Bianca asks “where could we find more bark, guys?” Cary points uphill to the woods. She and Beth proceed to climb up the hill to go to the woods and look for bark. Noah and Sammy soon follow.
The hill is much steeper than a two year old is used to. Sammy struggles at first to get up. Ms. Bianca instructs him to “climb up like a bear, using his hands and feet. He tries a little harder, with Ms. Bianca’s encouragement and makes it to the top of the hill, all by himself. He stands up with an exhilarating look on the face, as if he’s telling himself “I did it! I can do it! I did it all by myself.” Noah makes it up, too, feeling encouraged by his new skill of climbing up like a bear.
All four look through the woods for bark. Beth collects sticks, while Cary finds bark. Sammy picks up a piece of bark and gives it to Cary. Noah is focused on all the different elements he’s coming across in the woods.
They all climb down the steep hill – the girls run down, the boys are instructed to come down seated, as if on a slide.
Bark is placed on the roof, completing the home for the raccoon. Not quite yet, says Cary. We need to put some leaves and flowers on the roof. Cary runs to patch of weeds and collects as many leaves as she can. Sammy observes this and follows suit. He very enthusiastically collects more weeds for the roof, going back and forth collecting them and gently placing them on the roof.
The girls draw on a wooden board a sign for the home, writing their names on it and decorating it with colorful patterns. They place flowers on the roof, and conclude that the home is now ready.
They were fully engaged in this activity for 1.5 hours. Ms. Bianca observed closely, while taking notes that will assist her in creating future curriculum based on this child-initiated activity.
In this activity, the children practiced many fundamental skills:
Problem solving
Creative thinking
Sharing and cooperation
Empathy towards others
Teamwork
Gross movement
Fine movement
Pride in accomplishment
Spatial and mathematical understanding
Language acquisition
Communication
Understanding of physical principles
Classifying objects by shape and function
Perseverance
From this child-led interaction, the teacher took several notes, ensuring that she participate as an observer. From her notes, the teacher will derive activities for the class based on raccoons, animal homes, and animal tracks, contributing to the place-based learning experience of the forest school curriculum. The learning will be relevant and meaningful to the children because the curriculum took shape from their inquiry and personal experience.
