Forest Kids

Forest Kids
East of Vancouver, children at a Catholic school kindergarten
in Abbotsford donned rain suits and rubber boots this year and
spent hours exploring creeks and trails nestled in the shadow of
the Fraser Valley’s mountains.
New Brunswick’s first nature preschool is launching this fall in
Sussex.
The trend is even taking hold in the heart of New York City.
And if they can make it there ...
It’s fair to wonder, though, what forest kindergarten could
possibly have to do with inner-city schools. It’s one thing to picture
your youngster collecting stones on the shores of the Pacific
and quite another to imagine what they might stumble upon in a
downtown park.
One answer can be found in east-end Toronto at Equinox Holistic
Alternative School. There’s no forest in sight, or even a ravine.
But in the schoolyard or local parks day after day, the kindergarten
kids spot bugs and birds’ nests, and watch the seasons change the
trees. While it doesn’t advertise itself as such, this urban version
of nature kindergarten has been quietly taking children outdoors
since the school opened four years ago on the site of Roden Public
School.
It fits right in with what Power is hoping to encourage through
her new association, Forest School Canada, launched under the
umbrella of the Child & Nature Alliance of Canada. Power notes
that with 80 per cent of Canadians living in cities, it’s a concept
that has to be adaptable.
“Forest school is an ethos,” she says. “You don’t actually have to
have a forest.”
And children don’t need to be in Algonquin Park to see squirrels
or cloud shapes and feel the wind on their faces.
The philosophy can be applied to a grassy schoolyard corner of
plants and trees that children visit each week. It could be treks to
19