Come in for a tour. Call or text (719) 960-0612 to schedule.
Did you know that since the 1970s, children have lost 12 hours a week of free time? And that an average American child spends only four to seven minutes per day in unstructured outdoor play?
Children simply aren’t spending enough time outdoors in unstructured environment. As a result the studies show that today’s children are weaker, less fit and less emotionally stable than previous generations. In fact, experts say this may be the first generation at risk of having a shorter lifespan than their parents.
Forest Schools seek to bring children out of classrooms and into nature where they can learn, discover and experience the touch of the living world and develop in a more balanced and natural way.
Forest Schools seek to bring children out of classrooms and into nature where they can learn, discover and experience the touch of the living world, which has been found time and again to have an inspiring and therapeutic effect on people of all ages.
The benefits of a forest school approach are wide and many:
- Improves children’s mental health
- Makes them happier
- Brings about better social skills
- Reduces stress
- Prevents shortsightedness
- Prevents allergies
- Invokes the entire sensory system
In this blog post we share number of great studies about the value of outdoor in childhood development. This great article talks about the benefits of outdoor play vs. indoor play. We also highly recommend Childhood by Nature website to learn more why having kids outdoors is so critical.
What to expect at our center?
Mostly outdoors + some indoors
Forest School programs vary greatly depending on the location and circumstances. Some spend time exclusively outdoors where children explore nature as well as work on different crafts and activities. Other schools take a Forest School approach as a program where they take children out to the forest for a day each week.
Our Forest School is located in the town of Palmer Lake (just north of Monument or Colorado Springs) few minutes away from a beautiful canyon with many hiking trails, things to climb and even a creek! In the warmer months we move as many activities as possible to the outdoors, as the school grounds offer a wonderful and beautiful setting so children can enjoy a story laying under majestic pine trees, or run around playing imaginative games. In warm seasons we typically spend the entire day (7-8 hours) outside.
And when colder weather comes we believe that there is no bad weather, only bad gear. However, we understand that on some days it may be too cold for children to enjoy outdoors for a long period of time. In those cases, outdoor time may be reduced in favor of staying inside listening to stories, doing crafts and playing. That being said, the intention is to have children being outside as much as possible.
The typical winter schedule is we start outdoor and stay out until lunch. After lunch children typically wish to spend some time indoors going through books and playing or making crafts. Around 1:30pm younger children take a nap, while older children go back outside.
A picture is worth million words. 🙂 So we are inviting you to visit our Instagram page, where we share pictures of our activities almost daily.
About our name and logo
Lastly, we wanted to share with you some thought behind school’s name and it’s beautiful logo. We are sharing them here in this blog post and hope you get a chance to read it.