7 Reasons Why a Forest Kindergarten Changed My Daughter’s Life
A stick becomes a magic wand and a piece of bark becomes a train ticket to anywhere her imagination can take her.
I genuinely believe that my 5-year-old daughter’s life changed for the better the day we received the news that she had a place at a sought-after forest kindergarten on the outskirts of our city. I was so sure that this was the only place for her, that I didn’t even bother applying anywhere else.
1. What is a forest kindergarten?
It is literally a kindergarten in the forest. Children age 3–6 spend their days in the woods playing and exploring. The idea originated in Denmark in the 1950s, was more widely adopted there in the 1980s, with the idea taking hold in Germany in the 1990s.
There are now over 2,000 forest kindergartens in Germany alone. If you calculate an average of 20 children per kindergarten then that’s around 40,000 children in Germany who spend their days outside in nature.
2. But what happens in bad weather?
There is a saying that originates from Scandinavia:
There is no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.
