Forest Schooled | Well-being

Well-being

Posts discussing topics related to well-being, including the impact a Forest School approach has on physical, social, and mental health

Guest Blog: Children are natural caretakers of other living things

Landere Naisbitt

Jun 9
7 min

Guest Blog: Children are natural caretakers of other living things

Forest Days is a program that Blue Hill Heritage Trust piloted at the public Surry Elementary School for the 2019-2020 school year. We are

106 views0 comments

Guest Blog: How Forest School Soothes Our Seven (Yes Seven!) Senses

Romina Kramer

Apr 21
5 min

Guest Blog: How Forest School Soothes Our Seven (Yes Seven!) Senses

“The more exposure your child has to sensory experiences throughout the day, the more integrated and organized the brain, senses and body be

207 views0 comments

Guest Blog: Environmental Education (and Magic!) in the Mud Kitchen at Forest Days

Landere Naisbitt

Apr 9
7 min

Guest Blog: Environmental Education (and Magic!) in the Mud Kitchen at Forest Days

What is a mud kitchen, you might ask? It might sound dirty (which it is); it might sound like silly nonsense (which it is not); it might

271 views0 comments

How do we advocate for more Nature programs, like Forest School?

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Apr 1
6 min

How do we advocate for more Nature programs, like Forest School?

I was sitting in a wooden chair at a table in the school principal's office wondering how it all happened so fast to get me here

157 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Feb 1
3 min

Nature and the Nervous System

I can still hear it despite being covered by a thick layer of ice and a deep blanket of snow. I just have to get a lot closer now because...

176 views0 comments

Building connections to places we weren't born in...

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Oct 21, 2021
2 min

Building connections to places we weren't born in...

How do we help people of all backgrounds feel welcome and a sense of belonging to the places we live? This was a question that came up...

131 views0 comments

Starting a Program from Scratch Again (Or not)... Part 3

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Jul 1, 2021
6 min

Starting a Program from Scratch Again (Or not)... Part 3

Learning about and reflecting on all that I don't know We often say, "Start with what you know"... but what if we said instead, "Start...

255 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Jun 10, 2021
4 min

Loss, Grief, and the Forest

This post is deeply personal and I've hesitated to even write it, let alone publish it publicly. Yet writing has become a way of...

372 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

May 6, 2021
3 min

Remembering to say thank you

The best ones always seemed to be at the top of the tree. By the time they’d fallen to the ground and we happened to stumble upon them...

88 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Mar 29, 2021
1 min

Play is what makes us human!

This is a recorded chat with my sister Chelsea where we reflect on the role of outdoor play in our lives as children growing up in...

88 views0 comments

Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 2

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Mar 12, 2021
4 min

Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 2

Several months ago I shared a bit about my desires and reservations for starting up a new program since moving to a new place. See...

169 views0 comments

Supporting behaviour through relationships, instead of rewards and punishments...

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Jan 17, 2021
6 min

Supporting behaviour through relationships, instead of rewards and punishments...

"What do you need to feel safe?", I asked. "I don't want to get hit by sticks!", he said. I was standing between two boys whose play had...

802 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Dec 31, 2020
5 min

A year of learning to listen

I stood at what seemed like the edge, but the truth was I couldn’t really tell where it ended or began. An expanse of pure white...

94 views0 comments

Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 1

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Sep 27, 2020
5 min

Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 1

Over three years ago when I moved countries from England to the USA I was full of inspiration from all the things I'd learned while living

464 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Aug 17, 2020
3 min

Storytelling Resources

Ever since gathering a group of storytellers together at the start of the global shutdown in 2020 for weekly livestreams, I've been getting

451 views0 comments

Considering Ecological Relationships, Impact, and Reciprocity in our Outdoor Programs

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Jun 14, 2020
6 min

Considering Ecological Relationships, Impact, and Reciprocity in our Outdoor Programs

Okay I have something to confess... it’s been a weight on my shoulders (and on my ecological conscience) as an environmental educator. It's

573 views0 comments

Forest School Perspectives: Making Space for Diversity in Practice

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

May 26, 2020
6 min

Forest School Perspectives: Making Space for Diversity in Practice

This blog was first shared by the UK Forest School Association. You can view that post HERE. Imagine something exciting happened to you an

195 views0 comments

Learning when to stop asking children questions, even when it's in the name of “inquiry”

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

May 9, 2020
5 min

Learning when to stop asking children questions, even when it's in the name of “inquiry”

I’ve written before about my use of questions to prompt or assist children (and adults for that matter) to consider something more deeply..

611 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Mar 29, 2020
4 min

The Power of Slowing Down...

I'm not very good at slowing down. Wait, let me rephrase that. I'm getting better at slowing down. For example, I woke up this morning to

255 views0 comments

Reframing the Meaning of Community in Changing Times

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Mar 24, 2020
4 min

Reframing the Meaning of Community in Changing Times

I delivered a webinar yesterday in collaboration with Eastern Region Association of Forest & Nature Schools called Reframing the Meaning...

112 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Mar 13, 2020
3 min

Thinking of Cedar

These are uncertain times. At moments I find myself feeling a stirring in my chest. Like a tightening. Not pain. A discomfort. I know what

328 views0 comments

Do I do Forest School for the children? Or do I do it for me?

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Jan 11, 2020
3 min

Do I do Forest School for the children? Or do I do it for me?

It's winter. A time of year in the northern hemisphere where days are short, vitamin D is lacking, I feel like hibernating, but modern...

218 views0 comments

Guest Blog - Early Childhood Ways of Knowing:

Landere Naisbitt

Dec 1, 2019
10 min

Guest Blog - Early Childhood Ways of Knowing:

How Kindergarteners Teach Me About Nature Connection and How to Live in Healthy Relationship with the Earth This is special. This...

425 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Nov 3, 2019
3 min

Forest Schooled Evolves... Again

Well, I’m dusting off the ol' Forest Schooled keyboard. It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog here. Life moves and sways, shifting...

144 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Sep 1, 2019
3 min

Forest Schooled, The Book

Okay, you know that feeling when you have an idea and then someday that idea becomes a reality? It's an amazing feeling and one I am so...

297 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

May 9, 2019
1 min

Is the forest really magic?

Spring is officially bursting where I am and it has brought so much excitement to all of us at Forest School. The changes have been so...

79 views0 comments

Facing Colonization in our Work with the Land

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

May 1, 2019
1 min

Facing Colonization in our Work with the Land

& Building our Understanding of Indigenous Perspectives Growing up in the United States, and more specifically Hawaii, it always felt...

281 views0 comments

Lessons learned from starting programs from scratch...

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Apr 27, 2019
5 min

Lessons learned from starting programs from scratch...

After starting a handful of programs from scratch, there are so many things I’ve learned from the process. (See Starting a Forest School...

216 views0 comments

Integrating Forest School into a Public School Day

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Mar 24, 2019
9 min

Integrating Forest School into a Public School Day

In the Starting a Forest School Program from Scratch series I described the steps I took to get a couple of programmes up and running in...

680 views1 comment

Exploring what Place-based means in Forest School...

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Feb 10, 2019
7 min

Exploring what Place-based means in Forest School...

The word "place" comes up a lot in this work, with Forest School being described as a means for learners to gain a "sense of place,” an...

819 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Jan 5, 2019
6 min

Intervening in Children's Play...

This is a tough one for me to write, but here goes... One of my missions in Forest School and even through writing this blog has been to...

943 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Dec 16, 2018
3 min

Delivering programs at night...

This has been a really exciting time of year for me because it's the first time I've delivered Forest School sessions in the dark! I...

167 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Nov 18, 2018
3 min

Play is not just for early childhood...

Specifically since moving to the US, I feel like the phrase "play is not just for early childhood" has become a kind of motto for me....

395 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Aug 12, 2018
4 min

Forest School and Place

This is an extremely delayed notice letting you know that I took the summer off from Forest Schooled. I've spent the past couple of...

166 views0 comments

A History of the UK & US Forest School Movement

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Jun 3, 2018
1 min

A History of the UK & US Forest School Movement

If you've been following along with me over the past several months, you may have caught my ramblings here and there about how I'm...

574 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

May 12, 2018
6 min

Running out of time for Democracy!

I feel like a bit of a Forest School hypocrite when I say that I've made conscious decisions about how to "structure" the Forest School

197 views0 comments

What is Forest School for? A purpose viewed through many lenses...

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Sep 17, 2017
3 min

What is Forest School for? A purpose viewed through many lenses...

It's often said that Forest School isn't about achieving particular outcomes... but this isn't entirely true. It may not solely be about a

280 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Sep 2, 2017
6 min

Why Forest School?

If you caught the recent Facebook post or Forest Schooled newsletter, you'll have seen I've just started grad school and will be working

477 views0 comments

There's no wifi in the woods, just lots of connection

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

May 4, 2017
1 min

There's no wifi in the woods, just lots of connection

A while ago I was working with a teenage boy on building a fire. We'd only met minutes before starting our task of fire building, so I...

157 views0 comments

Guest Blog - The Importance of Mindfulness & Yoga for Kids

Molly McConnell

Mar 29, 2017
6 min

Guest Blog - The Importance of Mindfulness & Yoga for Kids

I'm really excited to share Forest Schooled's second Guest Blog! I love guest blogs because they help me gain fresh perspective and ideas...

348 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Sep 28, 2016
2 min

It's peaceful here

I was exploring the wood with a 7 year old girl who wanted to find a place to build a den. Her 4 year old brother wanted to come along...

125 views0 comments

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

May 12, 2016
6 min

Anxiety and burnt toast...

I've been trying to make sense of a situation I encountered with a girl at Forest School this week. I found it a bit odd at the time and...

214 views0 comments

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - the Forest School transformation...

Caylin (Forest Schooled)

Apr 27, 2016
2 min

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - the Forest School transformation...

Today I wanted to write about a little boy in our PRU group named Joshua. He's about 8 years old, loves the outdoors, enjoys playing,...

49 views0 comments