Outdoor nurseries give children access to 'natural childhood' parents once had

Otis Lindblom-Smith is the nursery manager at an outdoor nursery in Chiswick who believes outdoor learning is increasingly popular with parents because “most parents have come from a ‘natural childhood’ where the outdoors was more accessible and with fewer restrictions”.

The practitioner believes parents still want the same kind of freedom for their children, but in a more controlled way due to current perceived threats within the environment.

Recent changes in society and the media have meant there are barriers for young children accessing the outdoors, and parents “worry” about letting them out.

The early years practitioner says forest nurseries address this problem "by allowing children to be exposed to the ‘natural childhood’ their parents had".

Inspired by the Swedish curriculum

Mr Lindblom-Smith runs Little Forest Folk, Chiswick, an Ofsted rated ‘Outstanding’ nursery based predominantly outdoors. At the nursery there is an indoor setting, but it’s used for drop-offs and pick-ups, and most of the day is spent outside.

Each day his team of eight staff take a group of 20 children to Chiswick House and Gardens for a day full of adventure and play.

Staff have a reflective approach and make notes on how the children have approached the resources given to them, how they have interacted with each other and the practitioners, and what themes have come up through this.

The nursery manager was fortunate enough to visit forest schools in Sweden early on in his career, and it heavily influenced his approach to early years education.

He says: “When completing my Early Years Teacher Status in 2016, I had the opportunity to visit four nurseries in Sweden. I was inspired and influenced by the forest school practice within these settings and the Swedish curriculum itself.

“I researched forest schools in London and came across Little Forest Folk. I fell in love with the ethos and pedagogy of the setting and sent off an application.”

Mr Lindblom-Smith secured a role at the Fulham branch in February 2017 and undertook Level 3 Forest School Qualification through Bridgwater College.

Since then he has been promoted twice, first as a deputy at the Barnes branch before taking up his current role as nursery manager. He supported the Fulham team in receiving their Ofsted “outstanding” last summer and Chiswick achieved the same this summer.

Using bow saws: ‘one of our safest activities’

Each day a thorough risk assessment is undertaken by one of the managers to make sure the site is safe to operate in. This includes strength testing the ropes used for swings and climbing obstacles, making sure boundaries are clear and in place and checking resources are in good condition.

Mr Lindblom-Smith says: “For things such as tree climbing, the children are supported by an adult who is always there on hand to safely monitor the activity.”

The nursery manager explains that while the use of tools is often seen as the riskiest part of the setting, “They are actually one of our safest activities.”

He continues: “This is because a forest school trained staff member is always leading the activity and in control of the tool. An example of this would be when teaching a child to use a bow saw, the educator and staff are wearing safety gloves and the child is first taught how to kneel and where to place their hands.”

When using the saw the practitioner’s hand is always on the saw when the child is operating it, and when the saw is not in use, it has a safety cover and is out of reach of the children.

Embedded learning within an outdoor environment

An outdoor setting can provide a vast range of opportunities for covering the EYFS curriculum, according to Mr Lindblom-Smith.

An example of this would be one of the nursery’s ‘adventure walks’, he says: “Although we set up a base camp for the children, we also take them on adventure walks to explore the surrounding forest. These ‘adventure walks’ provide a plethora of learning experiences”.

The walks accord the nursery worker ample opportunity for incorporating learning within the environment rather than setting up strict schemas.

It’s a very fluid way of learning as practitioners can bring in a variety of elements such as imagination, encouraging the children to provide a narrative to the adventure, or exploration and understanding the world getting children to "look closely and study the minibeast and flora".

Mr Lindblom-Smith advocates that by concentrating on one simple activity, varied learning experiences and opportunities can be created for each child’s ability.

He concludes by saying: “Having worked in schools and indoor nurseries before, I have noticed that children at forest nurseries have developed at a faster rate into individual, confident and inspirational little people.

“This I believe is down to their enjoyment of learning, their socialising with mixed age ranges and the trust and confidence forest educators instil in children through allowing them to take risks and make decisions through child-led play.”