A guide to help children learn to assess risk for themselves

This document is a “living” document created by two educators who acknowledge the need for and responsibility to face past and ongoing impacts of colonization. It is a documentation of our own learning and action steps to help guide us moving forward rather than a template for others to follow. However, our hope is that, by sharing it, we may encourage others to reflect on their own work in this area.

This collection of stories was inspired by time playing and exploring with children outdoors in New Hampshire during a nature-based after school program and a Forest Days program at two local public schools. Many of the stories are reflections of play that occurred, imagination that blossomed in the woods, seasonal observations shared during opening and closing circles, and related personal experiences.

Four short stories written by Forest Schooled. I hope by sharing these stories, they might come in handy for someone else. Feel free to tweak and change (and improve) them to suit your group and context if you wish. See full blog post that goes with this resource.

The story describes a grumpy elf who learns that anger and hurtful words can have a much greater impact than he realized. He also discovers he has power over his own actions and words in order to handle strong emotions he originally thought were caused by others. You can download a copy of the story Grumpkin the Elf & The Beech Tree here and you're welcome to use it.

Use the checklist to help ensure diversity in the collection of stories you share with children. For the wellbeing of learners in our classrooms and outdoor programs it is essential that everyone feel they belong in the space we are playing, working, learning, and living in together. Additionally, sharing the perspectives of groups who are not present is crucial to develop empathy, compassion, and broader worldviews.

PDF version of a presentation shared during a recorded webinar delivered for the Nature Education Course through Cornell University Civic Ecology Lab in April 2019 about Learning through a Forest School Approach. Download the PDF to access hyperlinks embedded within the powerpoint slideshow.

Drawing of a Forest School scene with characters or objects associated with each of the 16 play types identified by Bob Hughes. They are also numbered which corresponds to written descriptions of the play types if you want more information about each one.

Identification characteristics and plant look a-likes for Poision Ivy.

A3 size poster with a selection of quotes from people who shared their favourite "Forest School moment."

Outlines some of the research that backs up the Forest School approach, gives a brief description of what a Forest School program entails, lists some of the details that need to be negotiated in the planning stages. Is only 3 pages long and is designed to provide succinct information to gather initial support for a program from members of a school board, teachers, parents or whoever else you think would benefit!

A tool you can use to plan for reflection that helps you think about a variety of important factors beforehand. Please take the interpretation of the word 'plan' loosely though. The nature of this work means nothing really ever goes 'according to plan'. The aim is that it helps us think things through, rather than acting as plan to be strictly followed.

This is a framework I was introduced to in the UK and have carried forward with my work in North American context. I have found Risk Benefit Assessments to be a valuable tool for communicating the value of outdoor experiences to those who are apprehensive about the inherent risks in outdoor play. This is the template I use, though please be sure to follow guidelines and legal framework set out in your own context.

A planning form that is a mismatch of something a former colleague of mine used and other planning forms I've seen elsewhere. I've also added my own tweaks to tailor it to something that works really well for me. It includes both planning and post-session evaluation elements in it. You can download the template and feel free to use it as is or use parts of it if you want to tweak it to make something of your own too!

We've been working on creating a way to put up a tarp that's as simple and as quick as possible so that teachers at a public school can create a temporary outdoor shelter for their kindergarteners in as little time as possible. Here's our prototype we're calling "The 2-Minute Tarp" because in actual time it took 2 minutes and 22 seconds to put up start to finish!