There is something almost counterintuitive about the idea that taking children out of a structured learning environment and putting them in a wood, regularly and for extended periods, improves their educational outcomes. And yet the evidence from Forest School programmes in the UK and from the broader nature-based education research consistently points in that direction.
The benefits are not mysterious. Natural environments offer a particular combination of features, complexity, unpredictability, sensory richness, and scope for child-directed activity, that structured indoor environments cannot replicate. And the research on attention, stress, and learning readiness increasingly points to time in natural environments as something that genuinely matters for child development, not just a nice addition.
Healthbooq (healthbooq.com) covers play and learning in the early years, including the evidence base for different play environments and approaches.
What Forest School Is
Forest School is a specific educational approach, not simply being outside. Developed in Denmark in the 1950s and introduced to the UK in the 1990s, it is characterised by several key elements that distinguish it from general outdoor play or a one-off nature walk.
Long-term. Forest School sessions happen regularly over an extended period (typically half a term or a whole academic year), allowing children to develop a genuine relationship with a specific natural place and to see how it changes across seasons.
Child-led. Adults facilitate rather than direct. Children choose their activities, follow their curiosity, and take the lead on what they explore. The adult role is to ensure safety and to support and extend what children initiate.
Risk-aware rather than risk-free. Children are allowed and encouraged to take managed risks: climbing trees, using tools, exploring slippery banks, working with fire under adult supervision. The risks are real but assessed; they are not eliminated.
Holistic. The approach aims to develop the whole child, not just academic or physical skills. Confidence, self-regulation, cooperation, communication, and emotional wellbeing are all considered outcomes.
A trained Forest School leader (certificated to Level 3 through UK awarding bodies) runs sessions. The Forest School Association maintains standards and a directory of trained practitioners.
The Evidence Base
Research on Forest School specifically is still developing; the approach is hard to study through randomised controlled trials and much of the evidence is observational and practitioner-reported. That noted, the evidence available is broadly consistent.
Studies of Forest School programmes in UK settings report improvements in self-confidence and self-esteem, better social communication, increased motivation for learning, improved physical fitness and fine motor skills (from tool use and construction), enhanced creative thinking, and greater wellbeing. Children with social, emotional, or behavioural difficulties often show particularly notable gains.
The broader evidence base on nature and child development is stronger. Attention Restoration Theory (Rachel and Stephen Kaplan) proposes that natural environments replenish directed attention in ways that built environments do not. Studies show improved attention capacity after time in natural settings. Research on stress and natural environments consistently finds lower cortisol levels and reduced arousal after time outdoors, particularly in green or natural settings.
Roger Ulrich's work on restorative environments and Stephen and Rachel Kaplan's research on attention restoration provide the theoretical underpinning; a growing body of applied research supports the effects in children.
Risk and Physical Challenge
One of the most discussed and sometimes controversial aspects of Forest School is the approach to risk. Children climb trees. They use saws and knives under supervision. They encounter mud, cold, wet, insects, and uneven terrain. They fall, slip, and experience minor scrapes.
This is deliberate. There is a substantial body of evidence, most influentially from Pia Bjorklid's risk and play research and from the work of Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter, showing that physically challenging play with managed risk supports children's risk assessment skills, physical competence, and emotional regulation. Children who are never allowed to experience manageable risk do not develop the same risk assessment skills as those who do.
UK Health and Safety guidelines explicitly support managed risk in play settings and explicitly distinguish between unacceptable risk and the beneficial risk that supports development. The relevant guidance from RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) and from the Health and Safety Executive emphasises the value of challenging play rather than recommending risk elimination.
Bringing the Outdoors In
Not every family has access to a Forest School programme. But the principles can be applied in everyday family life: regular outdoor time in natural settings, child-led exploration, tolerating mess and weather rather than avoiding them, supporting physical challenge rather than constantly warning of danger.
A garden, a park, a local nature reserve, or even a pavement with weeds growing through are all outdoor environments where children can explore, discover, get muddy, and experience the particular engagement that natural settings produce. The regularity matters as much as the setting.
Key Takeaways
Forest School is a long-term, child-led outdoor learning approach that originated in Scandinavia and has grown substantially in the UK over the past 20 years. Research and practitioner evidence supports benefits for children's confidence, resilience, physical development, creativity, language, and connection with nature. The Forest School approach is distinguished from general outdoor play by its sustained, regular engagement with a natural setting and its emphasis on child-initiated, risk-aware rather than risk-free exploration. Access to outdoor and natural environments is associated with better attention, reduced stress, and enhanced learning readiness.
