Description
Woodland Wonders Forest School offers a progressive and personalized early childhood enrichment program of child-directed and interest-led learning. Our aim is to remove physical classroom walls and encourage children to explore, play, build, create, imagine, and use their senses to experience the outdoor environment and engage with one another. We provide children with the time and space to develop their interests, skills, and understanding through practical, hands-on experiences.
A Typical Day
We follow the American Forest Kindergarten Model and The Cedarsong Way Nature Pedagogy for Early Childhood Education as a guideline; however, we also use our own emergent curriculum.
Our rhythm may be adjusted from day to day as the weather and seasons change, and as the children develop. We will conform to the children’s present needs, but the general timing will be similar to the following:
PLAY-BASED ACTIVITY (9:30 AM)
Our program begins with a play-based activity at out “Gathering Circle” as children arrive. Be it a pulley play or paint project, our outdoor activities integrate play-based learning with the outdoors.
NATURE WALK / CIRCLE TIME (10:10 AM)
Everyone has arrived and we have our “magical walk” to awaken our senses to “Circle of Trees” for a circle time, where we gather for stories, seasonal song, nursery rhymes, finger plays, and mindful movements, to share a fruit snack, to talk about something of interest, and to decide what to do.
CHILD-DIRECTED AND INTEREST-LED PLAY (10:40 AM)
Our interest-led philosophy allows children to direct the day, move at their own pace, spot things that pick their curiosity and encourage to explore them at the hands-on way for a greater focus and retention. It is all about coming along to the forest, enjoying themselves and learning what makes them curious. The children follow their imaginations as they play – they use wooden stumps for sitting, make mud pies, look for worms, build huts, race across meadows, explore creeks, boulders and hollow trees, search for wildlife, and learn as much as they can about greater outdoors.
LUNCH TIME (12:10 PM)
After child-led play, the children eat together with their teachers. Our students participate in preparation of daily healthy lunches for the class by setting the table, serving plates and helping with clean up. We enjoy lunch together with lively conversation, reflecting on what we learned, felt and experienced through the day. Children bring their own food.
KITES AND GOOD-BYES (12:30 PM)