What Are Forest Schools?
The philosophy of Forest School is to encourage and inspire individuals of any age through an innovative, long term, educational approach to outdoor play and learning in a woodland environment.
At Cheeky Monkeys Nursery and Pre School our Forest School is Child Led and our philosophy is to encourage and inspire individuals of any age through positive outdoor experiences. It involves Supported Risk Taking, Play and FUN!
It’s also a chance to learn about the natural world through Kinesthetic Learning (Learning by doing) and:
- Enhance Social Skills,
- Complete small achievable tasks
- Build Self Esteem
- Build Confidence
Forest School is for EVERYONE and all our nurseries will go ahead ALL YEAR ROUND, no matter what the weather is doing! (Please Note: except high winds – Cheeky Monkeys reserve the right to cancel Forest School if they feel that the children or staff will be put at unreasonable risk. We will make the decision to cancel at our daily risk assessment.)
By participating in engaging, motivating and achievable tasks and activities in a woodland environment each child has an opportunity to develop intrinsic motivation, sound emotional and social skills.
Our Forest School program has demonstrated success with children of all ages who visit the same local woodlands on a regular basis and through play, have the opportunity to learn about the natural environment, how to handle risks and most importantly to use their own initiative to solve problems and co-operate with others.
Children use full sized tools, play, learn boundaries of behavior; both physical and social, establish and grow in confidence, self-esteem and become self motivated.
So Cheeky Monkeys Day Nursery Forest School we will aim to develop:
- Self Awareness
- Self Regulation
- Intrinsic motivation
- Good social communication skills
- A positive mental attitude, self-esteem and confidence
Children need time to thoroughly explore their thoughts, feelings and relationships. This time and reflective practice develops understanding of the world, the environment and everything within it through the use of emotions, imagination and senses.