Waldkindergärten

Woodland nurseries – where children, accompanied by adults, spend the day rambling outdoors, often regardless of the weather. (Wald is German for forest.)

According to The Times of London, outdoor nurseries first appeared in Denmark in the 1950’s, and the trend has since spread across Scandinavia and into Switzerland and Germany (which has more than 700Waldkindergärten). Now the concept has caught on in Britain and America.

Cathy Bache, who recently opened the first British Waldkindergärten, told The Times:

There is space for children just to be. … Without that adult-driven thing of goals and activities. If a child wants to stare into a puddle for 20 minutes, he or she can.

Waldkindergärten also address the concerns of parents who feel traditional nurseries mollycoddle children from risk, and alienate them from nature. At the Mother Earth kindergarten in Portland, Oregon, children spend four hours each day in a state park forest engaging in “nature-based activities” – including learning how to use a real saw. “A plastic saw is no good,” Mother Earth’s founder told The Wall Street Journal, “You might as well give them a plastic life.”