Take me outside! Balancing children's social-emotional lives using a forest school approach

Kristi Downing
Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:45:09 PDT

As our fast-paced society brings children indoors at an increasing rate we are losing the essence of childhood experiences in nature. The ability to connect with the land, engage in our environment, and connect to the place we call home is essential for developing healthy social connections and skills. The Forest School ethos and principles uphold the sacredness of child-led, nature-based learning, and of giving children autonomy and agency in their lived experiences while exploring and learning outside. Forest School is based on a Swedish philosophy and way oflife,friluftsliv, literally “free air life” which has more recently been adopted across other countries and other cultures. The importance of spending time exploring and learning in nature has been shown to improve social and emotional health, restore attention to task, and support cooperation, community building, problem-solving skills, and empathy. The literature and research support the profound experiences of those embracing a long-term Forest School approach and the successes with improved social-emotional skills. For my project, I created a usable, informative website that helps make outdoor learning with a Forest School approach a feasible option for all parents and educators. The website outlines a collection of activities for educators and parents to use in the outdoors that support children and young people’s social-emotional skills in a holistic way.