Forest Kindergarten - History

History

In rural areas, and historical times, access to nature has not been a problem. Over the last century, with increasing urbanisation and "nature deficit disorder", there have been many changes in stance on outdoor education. In 1914, the socialist political activists Rachel and Margaret McMillan set up an "open-air nursery" but little is known of the details, except for an improvement in child health.

In Sweden in 1957, an ex-military man, Goesta Frohm, created the idea of "Skogsmulle". "Skog" means wood in Swedish. "Mulle" is one of four fictional characters he created to teach children about nature, along with "Laxe" representing water, "Fjällfina" representing mountains and "Nova" representing an unpolluted nature. Forest schools based on Frohm's model, called "I Ur och Skur" (Rain or Shine Schools) moved the idea from occasional activities to formal nursery schools, being set up by Siw Linde in 1985. Juliet Robertson's review of Skogsmulle is a valuable modern-day summary.

Also in the 1950s, Ella Flautau created forest kindergartens in Denmark. The idea formed gradually as a result of her often spending time with her own and neighbors' children in a nearby forest, a form of daycare which elicited great interest among the neighborhood parents. The parents formed a group and created an initiative to establish the first Forest Kindergarten.

Forest Kindergartens have existed in Germany since 1968 but were first officially recognized as a form of daycare in 1993, enabling state subsidies to reduce the daycare fees of children who attended Forest Kindergarten. Since then, the forest kindergartens have become increasingly popular. As of 2005 there were approximately 450 forest kindergartens in Germany, some of which offer a mix of forest kindergarten and traditional daycare, spending their mornings in the forest and afternoons inside.

Mindstretchers opened the first outdoor Nature Kindergarten in Scotland in 2006. Whistlebrae Nature Kindergarten is a small nursery in the countryside near Braco in Perthshire and in 2008 a second Nature Kindergarten called Auchlone was opened near Crieff in Perthshire. These Kindergartens are run under the direction and management of Claire Warden.

The idea was brought to Britain by Scottish childminder Cathy Bache, who opened the Secret Garden with support from funding authorities and private donors.