Three children scramble over rocks in a low-level Brisbane creek bed when four-year-old Jasper finds a yabby. At least, he thinks it’s a yabby – it could be a crayfish or possibly some other unlucky creature caught in his small, handheld net. More children run to join the debate, their gumboots slipping on the creek’s muddy banks as shrieks of excitement match those of the cockatoos in the leafy canopy above. The children, aged three to six, crowd around their educator to theorise about the discovery – what could it be? Where did it come from? Should they let it go or bring it out of the creek?
It’s this kind of hands-on learning that proponents of forest school say can only be found in the great outdoors. Over the course of three hours, the class of 24 explores the suburban creek and bushland, with small hands kept busy collecting sticks and digging in the mud; worlds created in complex games between tree logs and boulders; and little bodies stopping to rest on colourful blankets by the creek to eat, read or join in a nature-based craft activity (today is lantern-making to celebrate the winter solstice).
It’s not long before someone asks: “Can we have fire?” The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is yes.
Boom in bush learning
Forest school, bush kindy, beach school, outdoor immersion – depending on the state you live in, the terminology used may be different, but there is no doubt that the popularity of alternative, all-weather, outdoor programs for preschool-age children is growing nationwide.
As mother Tahlia Syme explains while her four-year-old daughter Aria runs off to join friends in the creek, forest school is “permission to get dirty”. “I love that they are learning skills usually reserved for adults – how to start a fire, how to use sharp tools safely, how to take calculated risks, and establish boundaries and communication with adults,” she says.
Based on a Danish concept, the forest school movement is an international phenomenon, with decades-old programs established across Europe and the UK. Australia’s first recognised bush kinder was established in 2011 in Melbourne. Dr Chris Speldewinde, a lecturer at Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne, has been mapping Victoria’s bush kinder sector as part of his research, and estimates there are now 150-200 established programs in that state alone.
Speldewinde says benefits include improved social interactions and fewer gendered play experiences, but also an increase in STEM learning as children begin “predicting, rationalising and hypothesising”.
“Being out in nature, it’s a changing canvas every day,” he says. “Allowing children to discover and to investigate, these are all skills that are beneficial in terms of their critical thinking as they get older.”
His research indicates that teaching methods matter less than letting kids learn in nature – begging the question of how parents can assess the quality of programs on offer. Aside from ensuring safety procedures and risk management plans are in place, Speldewinde says the key is that there is intention behind playtime.
“There needs to be a purpose behind what you’re doing as an educator,” he says. “As a parent, I’d be looking at ‘how is my child going to develop socially?’ and in terms of context, ‘what are they going to be learning?’”
‘We are diluting risk in childhood’
It’s hardly a new idea that children should play outside, but increasingly, Australian parents are keeping their kids from getting dirty. A 2022 royal children’s hospital national child health poll found that although 94% of parents recognised the benefit of play for a child’s physical wellbeing and brain development, less than half of Australian children play outdoors most days, and a third of parents did not think it was good for play to involve risk.
The figures are dismal, according to Prof Tonia Gray, senior researcher at the Centre for Educational Research at Western Sydney University, who wants to see a “nature-fuelled education revolution”.
“We are diluting risk in childhood,” she says. “We need children to become risk-technicians.”
Gray argues nature should be “front and centre” in early childhood, with benefits including curiosity and creativity, flexibility and strength, and social skills such as teamwork and resilience.
“Nature and play make an amazing superfood,” she says. “We are biologically hardwired to nature, but we tend to have lost that with indoor, air-conditioned, sterilised life.”
Back at the creek with Wildlings Forest School in Brisbane, program facilitator Amanda England watches three-year-old Toby try to unsuccessfully start a fire using only a flint and steel. “I’m nearly getting it,” Toby says, as he continues with little effect.
England admits it took her six hours on her first go. “Most don’t get it the first time,” she says. “They have the skills to do it, they just have to persevere.”
These lessons in resilience attract many parents whose children have NDIS funding. Rosie, mother of six-year-old Archie, who has speech apraxia, has been amazed by her son’s focus at bush kindy. “He won’t sit down to write or colour, but he will sit down and make a fire with a flint. It’s great for fine motor skills and social skills,” she says. “He loves to be in nature, and in this setting he can focus easily.”
Archie is not alone. Prof Karen Thorpe, group leader in child development, education and care at the Queensland Brain Institute, agrees that outdoor settings could benefit children with additional needs. One study she worked on, published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, showed children who experienced higher levels of light exposure recorded a decrease in ADHD symptoms and an increase in attentiveness and sociability.
“Being outdoors, exposed to light and physical activity … you’ve got much better social and emotional adjustment,” she says. “Children need good, rich interactions with adults and other children for brain development, and I think bush kindies are places where it’s easier for that to happen.”
Not everyone has access to bush programs, however. Often, places in free or low-cost programs are limited – particularly in certain states. Nature Play Australia CEO, Dr Kelsie Prabawa-Sear, would like to see outdoor education embedded within all early childhood providers nationally.
“We want all kids to have access to this. It’s very clear and undisputed that it’s very good for everybody, but particularly for preschool kids, so from my point of view it needs to be across all services in the early years.”
Until then, Thorpe says lessons from bush programs could apply across the early learning sector, and even provide ideas for parents. “Time outdoors, even in an urban space, is really important – and not just time outdoors, but time with adults where there is dedicated time with children to talk and explore.”
