Ko te Ngahere - Our Forest Programme

That moment of Wonder is the source of all spiritual growth 

 - Richard Louv

Forest Kindergartens are preschools in the outdoors, usually in a forest, but there are preschools with programmes at the beach. Children attending a forest kindergarten spend most, if not all, of their time in the outdoors. There are several types of forest kindergartens, some have their base away from the forest, some have their base inside the forest, whilst some forest kindergartens do not have a base at all and are totally immersed in the natural environment. The kindergarten may have a shelter in the forest for assemblies like snack time, lunch time and/or nap time, or for shelter from severe weather. In general the children play and learn outside regardless the weather, wearing clothes suitable for the prevailing weather. The shelter can be a building, a hut, a yurt, a caravan, or even a teepee. Forest kindergartens have been a part of the Scandinavian preschool education for over 30 years. They are also common in Germany and Denmark and are spreading through the rest of Europe and Northern America. Children attending forest kindergartens play, and explore in the outdoors, with natural objects in their environment used as tools for their learning. Singing, dancing, stories, and other activities all take place in the he outdoor setting.

At Little Earth we are committed to giving children real lief and authentic experiences. Our beautiful outdoor environment, the ever changing theatre of nature, is the ideal environment where children can be active and concrete learners. It is constantly changing, highly attractive and full of beauty. Since the opening of Little Earth in 2009 we have been taking our children on Forest Walks. We have a beautiful native forest reserve near our preschool. Nikau Reserve is a lush nikau palm forest, frequently visited by kereru and tui and other native birds.

The Forest Walks at Little Earth are very popular with our children and parents, who join us on our forest walks. The children play and explore the forest and are introduced to the beautiful treasures of Tane, the guardian of the forest, according to Maori legend. The forest environment provides many challenges and interesting features for the children to play and explore. They are happy climbing over logs, lifting up branches and exploring the stream, using sticks for “fishing”, jumping over the stream or just walking through it. The many palm leaves on the forest floor also provide plenty of challenges.  There are plenty of fungus and insects on the fallen logs alongside the path, and the children enjoy observing them. We do not bring toys, instead we bring  magnifiers, field guides, and binoculars for the children to use. At the end of the track, just outside the forest, is a picnic table where we sit down for a moment, talk about our experiences, make sure everybody is accounted for and start our walk back to Little Earth.

Exploring and immersing into the natural environment is a beautiful way of introducing the children to the Earth, with the aim to develop their understanding of care and respect. We do not take any treasures out of the forest, what is in the forest, stays in the forest. Each creature deserves our care and respect. We do not have a shelter of any sorts in Nikau Reserve, but we do visit the forest two or three times per week for a whole morning session.  We have our own Forest Song, composed and written by one of our teachers. We sing our Ko the Ngahere song when we enter and exit the forest, which is always a special experience.

On several occasions over the last few weeks a kereru, or native woodpigeon, has come down to sit on a branch, watching the children when they are singing and entering the forest. A magical moment for all of us. In the words of Richard Louv: "That moment of Wonder is the source of all spiritual growth".

- Anja

A visit across the Pacific

Recently I returned from a three week teacher exchange in Arizona, where I visited several pre-k programmes.  I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I am very grateful for the warm welcome I received at the schools I visited.

Arizona has a very different climate from our lush green wet and windy Wellington in New Zealand. This was especially noticeable  in the different outdoor environments that I witnessed. The hot and dry desert climate creates challenges for most schools to establish and maintain a school garden or natural outdoor environment. However, this doesn’t mean it is not possible to create a beautiful, natural garden and outdoor playscape, as the Montessori Center School in Phoenix proved. They have a beautiful outdoor garden where the children and their families can learn and experience nature. It was a real pleasure to visit their beautiful sensory garden, designed to understand and enhance each of the senses - sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. The garden also includes art stations, vegetable gardens, a hummingbird- and butterfly trail and a compass garden. They made good use of plants that grow in their area naturally, including the one plant that thrives in the Arizona desert environment, the cactus.

But it isn’t the climate only that is an obstacle for schools to create more natural outdoor environments. The combination of strict law, regulations and high insurance premiums pushes many schools into creating “soulless” playgrounds with low maintenance plastic toys and meaningless equipment. Combined with, in some cases, an absence of rooms with windows, and I couldn’t help but question what this does to the spirit and soul of the young child. 

During early childhood the brain is shaped by our daily experiences, necessary for growth. If we keep our children away from nature, limiting their experiences with the natural world, stifling the development of their biophilia, which is their natural love for the Earth, we will create a generation that suffers from nature deficit disorder, a term introduced by Richard Louv, and biophobia, a fear for the natural world. If that happens, who will be our future Earth Stewards? How can we expect our children to take care of our planet if they themselves have not developed any empathy, nor love, for the Earth they live on. Caring does not come naturally, it needs to be fostered. A lack of exposure to the nature experiences, combined with the rigid learning programmes that are more common in pre-k programmes, and the fear for safety, resulting in less time for free unstructured play and we are raising a generation of children far removed from a connection with the natural world. 

"We survive because we can love. And we love because we can empathize."

- Bruce Perry (“Born for Love”)

Bruce Perry, in his book ”Born for Love: Why Empathy is Essential - and Endangered”, writes that three-, four-, and five-year-old children need to have lots of time for unstructured play. They need to explore, to negotiate the rules of made-up games with friends; they need  opportunities to practice compromise, negotiation, and sharing. Early childhood is a crucial time of life for the development of empathy.

And empathy is what we need if we want to have healthy relationships, not only with other human beings, but also with the natural world, our home the Earth. What other good way to develop empathy than providing children with authentic, natural environments. Environments that are not over regulated by adult rules and societal priorities, but environments where children learn to manage dangers and risks, and where they can have those lifeshaping experiences that shape not only their brain, but also their soul.

Many of the teachers I talked to would like to introduce more free play and nature into their programmes. As I shared with them our Little Earth programme and environment, they were enthusiastic and hopeful that with initiatives like  “Leave no child inside” and the “Let’s go outside’ movement” more support for more outdoor and natural experiences will become available. I hope that one day, soon, their school district and regulating bodies will share their hope and give them their full support.

- Anja