What’s The Point of Outdoor Education?

Archaeological research today reveals native people traveled by boat to what is now known as North America some 30,000 years ago, when giant animals still roamed the continent long before it was thought the earliest arrivals had made the crossing from Asia. Their ability to overcome challenges and ultimate survival depended on their knowledge of nature and their relationship to the earth and the world around them. They were the stewards of the land and the original forest school outdoor educators, and they exist today to tell their history and the history of the land that we all live on today.

The 19th Century brought outdoor learning to Eurocentric philosophers, naturalists, and educators such as Wordsworth, Ruskin, Baden Powell, Leslie Paul (who founded the Woodcraft Folk in 1925), Kurt Hahn (who founded Gordonstone), Susan Isaacs and sisters Margaret and Rachel McMillan, who all laid the foundations for what is known as Forest School today. They realized the importance of introducing students to the outdoors, learning about the natural world, and encouraging future outdoor recreation and physical fitness.

The original forest kindergartens established throughout Europe were preschool aged, in gardens or outdoors, and play-based. Today, forest schools have spread throughout the globe and many privately-held and non-profit institutions have grown in…