What Should A Forest School Parent By With £20 In Their Pocket?
Today, I’m looking at the question. If I had £20 to spend on Forest School, as a parent, what would I do with it?
Now if I placed myself into a parent shoes and thinking about the children that I work with the £20 would be well spent on a spacious, age appropriate rucksack with added waterproof cover.
I took a look at how to pack a rucksack for Forest School in a previous episode, that I’ve linked below, but I think it will be super interesting to go into the long term benefits of your child carrying a bag, beyond the obvious ‘because they couldn’t carry all the stuff I packed for them’.
Why A Rucksack?
Forest School can be a hostile place. Certainly not because of the children or the Leader, but because of the environment itself. At times it can be magical, exciting and exhilarating. But at others it can be a complete brute and it takes a lot for a child to dig deep and keep going.
There are lessons within this, however! Having a haven of warm or waterproof clothes, yummy food, a tasty drink and indeed at times a seat off the cold floor raises your child’s level of happiness and ultimately that’s what Forest Schools about- securing the basic needs so that holistic learning can take place and flourish
Now your child, at the time you offer them a bag to carry into the Forest, will quite possibly look at it in horror but when they realize what it can offer them, this frown doesn’t last long. More importantly though the hidden benefits for your child are nothing to shake a stick at and potentially those you haven’t thought
The Long Term Benefits
When your child begins and continuously carries a rucksack in a location where they need one, they are learning to take responsibility for themselves, their wellbeing and to plan ahead.
Not only this but they too are developing skills of independence and self-regulation meaning they won’t always have to rely on an adult and have them at their beckon call at every moment, as the things they really need when it’s cold, wet or if they’re hungry are in their bags, waiting for them to make a decision to when they need to be used.
The Learning Process Of Self Care
Making this decision can be hard for children and this is known as self care. Simply looking after yourself. Forest School introduces this in a supportive but needs based environment. By that I mean there is often a need to self care in the outdoors, more so than perhaps other learning environments.
If it’s too cold a coat goes on, if it’s too hot it comes off. If there is a hunger food is eaten and so on. Within one day there are a large number of these self care decisions for a child to make, given loads of chances to practice and listen to their body and it’s needs.
A Forest School leader is always on hand to monitor each child, especially if they are not successfully self caring yet. It is a learning process and each child will learn at their own pace. This is just the way we like it at Forest School.
The Progression For The Older Child
Progressing on from here you can begin to get your older child packing their own rucksack which in itself holds even greater learning benefits. They will learn to spend time, ideally the evening before, prioritizing what they do and don’t need to bring with them in their bag.
They will learn that if the bag is too heavy for them one day, the next day they will repack it to make it lighter or be more selective about what they actually do need and that which is taking up valuable space. It also demonstrates to your child that you trust them and from this they will be empowered to go ahead and pack more thoughtfully going forward in their self care development.
Each of these benefits in themselves are pursued through the Forest School ethos also and so both compliment one an another whilst having practical reasons and applications in the Forest school environment which children are exposed to, also.
My Recommendation
I would highly recommend staying away from fashion rucksacks and encourage you to look more toward outdoor suppliers. Why? Simply the rucksack is made for the job not only with spacious and multiple pockets but the technical fabric that is used which can withstand woodland wear and tear and have some degree of waterproofing.
The addition of a waterproof cover is essential I would say as although a most outdoor rucksacks have some degree of waterproofing, when a limit is reached, water will begin to get in where it doesn’t belong.
Particularly from the ground up when a bag is placed down for a long period and the rain persists, saturating the ground your childs rucksack will become like a sponge. A waterproof covering will stop this from happening keeping the contents inside nice and dry.
In a few episodes time I shall be looking at what parents should buy for Forest School with £50.
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