As I follow a group of a dozen or so children down a beaten dirt trail toward a creek, Maximus Van Tol, 6, stops me and points into the thicket. He points out the poison ivy and the stinging nettle, warning me not to go near them and telling me how to identify them.
Maximus, a student in Countryside Montessori Day School’s summer Forest School program, exudes confidence as he transforms into a teacher in this moment. Identifying plants is one of the lessons he and the other children learned at the start of Forest School, establishing a basic set of skills on how to navigate their outdoor classroom on an 80-acre farm near Kansas City’s airport.
And confidence is exactly one of the skills that Sarah Lockridge, the lead elementary teacher at Countryside, hopes they will walk away with at the end of the summer. The Forest School program, which is solely a summer school program at the moment, takes kids between the ages of 6 and 12 outside 40 hours a week from June to August. By the end of the summer, they’ll experience how to safely wield a knife, start a fire with a flint tool, fish with a hook, and learn a host of other skills, like confidence, that are just as important but perhaps less measurable.
“These kids walk away with so much confidence,” says Sarah. “They feel so good that I trusted them to hand them a knife.”
Before using a knife, all the children are coached on how to do so safely. The phrase “watch your blood triangle” is said frequently throughout the day, referring to the area of your legs and groin where major arteries are found. Children are not allowed to use a tool until they can demonstrate their competency
This is one of the few rules guiding the children. Others include respecting live animals by not touching them, not swimming without an adult present, and staying where they can see an adult. Other rules are created as the summer goes on, decided and created by the children in a democratic-style council session guided by an adult, usually after multiple incidents that cause injury or conflict. Other than that, it’s pretty much a free-for-all of swimming, climbing, fishing, and exploring.
Though Countryside is a Montessori school first, Sarah believes Forest School is a perfect fit for their program.
“Pedagogically speaking, the two programs really complement each other naturally,” she says.
The idea of Forest School is not unique to Countryside, though. It’s a model that has been gaining traction in the United States in the last few years, starting in Denmark in the 1950s. Forest kindergarten is a popular schooling model there, and though the idea is pretty open-ended, it does have some common pillars.
According to the UK-based Forest School Association, Forest School must be “a long-term process, rather than infrequent visits,” and “must occur in a natural environment.” The hope is that Forest School “promotes holistic development” and supports play, exploration, and self-esteem by being learner-inspired, rather than guided by a rigid curriculum. Finally, arguably the most important tenant of Forest School is the idea of supported risk tasking.
While Countryside does offer their summer Forest School, there is no year-round traditional Forest School in the Northland, though there are some south of the River, such as Blue River Forest Experience in Overland Park or Well Wilderness Kids Therapeutic NaturePlay Center of Olathe. However, there are plenty of parents trying to fill the desire for a Forest School-like atmosphere.
Emily Wegener is the admin of the North KC Forest Playgroup on Facebook. The group was actually started by a military spouse, Kara Blackwell, who brought the concept to KC from the east coast when Emily’s youngest son, now 5, was just a few weeks old. After Kara’s family moved on from Kansas City, Emily knew the group had to remain.
“I was just hellbent,” says Emily about keeping the group going. “I was like, no, this has helped me so much that I know we gotta keep this going because other families need this just as much as we do. Until they figure out that they need it too, we gotta keep it going.”
The group has grown a lot since it was first started, sometimes drawing up to 75 families an outing. Since then, and partly due to the pandemic, smaller pods have broken off, usually made up of families with similar schedules or children of a similar age. The format is pretty loose, sometimes starting with a book or a craft, sometimes a planned activity involving magnifying glasses or fishing nets. But often it’s just showing up on your forest playgroup day of the week at a predetermined time and spot, and letting the kids play in nature.
Amy Eastin is the leader of a toddler playgroup that meets on Mondays. She’s the mother of three children — two 4-year-old twin girls and a boy under the age of 2 — and has been looking into how to start her own year-round Forest School in the Northland. On the day I accompanied her forest playgroup pod, a group of 14 families gathered at Line Creek with children ranging in age as young as a month old, worn by their mothers and frequently nursing, and up to 5 years old.
There’s no agenda on this day — a perfect, breezy 80-degree June day where there’s finally a break in the unrelenting Midwestern humidity. The children come armed with bikes and helmets, pails, fishing nets, and plastic shovels, and stomp through the shallow water, pointing out crawdads, waterbugs, frogs, and dragonflies.
This sort of completely unregulated free time is exactly what Emily, the group admin, strives for.
“We’re always micromanaging their schedules in this generation,” says Emily. “It’s really easy to plan every moment. Take a block of time and say, ‘Alright, what are we gonna do? Do whatever you want to do. Here’s your moment.’”
While there are certainly fieldcraft skills the children can learn through forest play, there are also qualities the children gain through regular interaction with nature.
“Resilience is definitely one of them,” says Amy, the toddler playgroup leader. “I think that when kids are in a temperature-controlled environment, it gets harder for them to function in different environments. I want my kids to realize that they can be a little bit uncomfortable and still have fun. Confidence is a big thing that I really hope my kids gain from being outside. I see it all the time. They climb a tree and they say they’re so proud of themselves. They work together with other kids. The forest group is really great for that. That collaborative spirit is definitely something else.”
Amy, who also runs an Instagram account called @everydayoutdoorfamily where she shares tips on outdoor activities in the KC area and the Midwest, doesn’t really consider herself an outdoorsy person. In fact, she grew up with a very different-looking childhood than her own children.
“I want them to get the childhood that I didn’t get,” says Amy. “When I was a kid growing up in Texas, I wasn’t allowed to play out there unattended. I wasn’t allowed to climb trees. I think that part of it is that I want them to be able to experience that quintessential childhood. Part of it is how much joy I see that it brings my children. All of them love to be outside. I see what it does to their mood. They get bored inside with the same old toys. [Outdoors,] the seasons change. The bugs are different every day. I love that it inspires that curiosity in them.”
Another push for outdoor play among millennial parents is the growing concern over screen time.
“I think trying to find the balance with social media and nature and electronics with our environment [is difficult],” says Emily. “Just being outside and being outside with others cannot be duplicated with a screen.”
While, of course, the primary goal in both Forest School and the forest playgroup is to get kids outside, the parents in the playgroup are also reaping the benefits.
“I always use this playgroup for my own personal mental health as well, through postpartum depression and just not knowing how to meet other people while having a kid,” says Emily. “Outdoor playgroup time is still sacred in my calendar for my own mental health and exploring and riding right alongside my kids.”
Because, of course, it’s not just the kids who are soaking up lessons.
“I feel like I’m new to learning this, too,” says Amy. “I certainly don’t feel like an expert. I’d love to be — that’s my dream. I feel real because I didn’t grow up doing this stuff. If I can do it with 3 kids four and under, I feel like everyone can.”
