How to Bring the Forest School Ethos Home

I never thought I would write an article like this. How can it be possible to implement Forest School at home? The short answer is: you cannot replicate the full Forest School experience in your living room. But many of the principles that make Forest School effective can absolutely be woven into everyday family life as we learn't during the Covid19 pandemic, and the difference it makes to how children approach the world is significant.

Whether you already attend Forest School with your children or are simply drawn to the approach, this guide will help you understand which parts of the ethos can come home with you, and which parts need the trees, the bugs, and a qualified practitioner.

Start with Values, Not Activities

Before thinking about what to do, think about what you value. Forest School is built on a set of values that shape how children experience the world: adventure, independence, community, creativity, resilience, wellbeing, resourcefulness, choice, and sustainability. There is overlap between them. Valuing adventure also means valuing bravery and responsibility. Resourcefulness includes intellect and creativity. Community encompasses friendship, teamwork, and collaboration.

A standout value is choice. The child’s right to decide what they want to do and how they want to do it. Their right to explore, discover, fail, and succeed on their own terms. If you take one thing from this article, let it be this: give your child more choice than feels comfortable, and then step back and watch what happens.

Ask yourself honestly: do these values align with your family? Forest School is unlikely to be a natural fit for families who prioritise safety above all else, or who measure success primarily through academic achievement and qualifications. That is not a criticism. It is simply a recognition that Forest School asks you to value process over product, and character alongside intellect.

Understand What Forest School Is Responding To

Forest School did not emerge in a vacuum. It developed in response to real and well-documented trends affecting children’s lives across the developed world, including Singapore.

Children today spend dramatically less time outdoors than their parents did. The UK’s National Trust reported a 50% reduction. In Singapore, research shows children average just over three hours of outdoor time per week, compared to nearly 14 hours for children in Sydney. At the same time, freely chosen play has been squeezed out of children’s schedules. Professor Peter Gray’s research, published in the American Journal of Play, documents how the decline in free play over six decades has coincided with rising anxiety, depression, and reduced resilience in young people.

Add to this the rise of screen time. A Singapore study from the GUSTO cohort found that by age two, children averaged 2.4 hours of screen time per day, with only 27% meeting the recommended guideline of under one hour. Meanwhile, Singapore’s myopia rate in children sits at 29%, compared to just 3.3% in Sydney, a difference strongly linked to time spent outdoors.

Understanding these trends helps explain why making the effort to bring Forest School principles home matters. This is not a lifestyle trend. It is a response to something real.

The Six Principles of Forest School

The Forest School Association sets out six principles that define Forest School practice. Not all of them can be replicated at home, but understanding them helps you know what to aim for and where the limits are.

First, Forest School is long-term and regular. It happens weekly for at least two hours over an extended period. This matters because it takes time for children to feel safe enough to take risks, lead their own learning, and develop the trust needed to truly benefit. At home, you can commit to regular outdoor time, ideally in the same place, so your child builds a relationship with that environment.

Second, it takes place in a natural environment. This is harder to achieve at home in Singapore, but not impossible. Even a balcony garden, a nearby patch of green space, or regular visits to the same park can bring more nature into daily life. The key is consistency and real contact with natural materials: soil, water, plants, insects, weather.

Third, it promotes holistic development. Forest School cares about the whole person: physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual. Not just grades. At home, this means valuing a child who can regulate their emotions, solve problems, show empathy, and take initiative, as much as one who scores well on tests.

Fourth, it offers supported risk. Children are entitled to age-appropriate challenge. Bumps, scrapes, mud, and rain are part of growing up. At home, this means resisting the urge to intervene every time your child climbs too high or gets dirty. Research by Dr Mariana Brussoni at the University of British Columbia shows that children who engage in risky outdoor play actually develop better risk assessment skills and have lower injury rates over time.

Fifth, it is learner-led. Put your child’s ideas first. Ask what they want to explore, then help them figure out how. As we explored in How Kids Get Smart, this is perhaps the most powerful thing you can do at home.

Sixth, it is led by qualified practitioners. This is the part that genuinely cannot be replicated at home. A trained Forest School leader brings knowledge of child development, group dynamics, risk management, reflective practice, and environmental awareness that takes years to develop. Home practice is a complement to Forest School, not a replacement for it. We have partnered with Forest Schools Education International to bring Forest School training to Singapore which is relevant for the committed, homeschooling parent.

Practical Ways to Bring Forest School Home

Bring nature in. Fill your home with natural materials: stones, shells, seed pods, leaves, sticks. Simon Nicholson’s Theory of Loose Parts tells us that the more open-ended variables in a child’s environment, the more creative and inventive they become. A box of sticks and string will generate more sustained, complex play than most expensive toys.

Get outside as much as you can. In Singapore, the heat is not a barrier. It is part of the experience. Rain, mud, humidity are features of our tropical environment, not problems to avoid. Plan your outdoor time, give yourself more of it than you think you need, and let your child lead what happens when you get there.

Shift from teacher to facilitator. This is the hardest part for most parents. Stop directing, instructing, and correcting. Instead, observe. Ask open questions. Provide resources when asked. Reflect together afterwards on what happened. The goal is not to teach your child something specific but to create the conditions for them to discover it themselves.

Let them be bored. This is essential. Boredom is the gateway to creativity. As researcher Leah Shafer noted in a Harvard Education article, children often need to pass through that initial discomfort before they settle into self-directed, curious play. Resist the urge to fill every silence with a suggestion.

When a child chooses to spend an hour watching ants instead of doing the activity you planned, that is not wasted time. That is deep, focused learning. At Forest School, we follow the child. At home, you can do the same.

Embrace risk. Let your child climb trees, use real tools (with supervision appropriate to their age), cook over a fire, navigate a trail without you leading the way. This applies to children of all ages, not just toddlers. A ten-year-old who has never been allowed to use a penknife or build a fire has missed something important in their development. Risk builds competence, and competence builds confidence.

Looking for hands-on ideas to get started? Our Nature at Home series offers practical activities you can try with your children tried and tested during home-learning, from connecting with trees and gardening to eco-friendly painting, hapa zome leaf printing, and exploring patterns in nature. Each activity is grounded in Forest School principles and designed for families in Singapore.

What You Cannot Do at Home

It is important to be clear about the limits. Forest School is not just a set of activities you can copy. It is a process that relies on group dynamics, qualified leadership, a natural environment with trees, and sustained commitment over time. The social dimension alone, learning to negotiate, collaborate, lead, and follow within a group of peers, cannot be recreated one-on-one at home unless families are large.

The reflective practice of a trained leader, the ability to observe a child and adjust the environment or provision in real time, is a professional skill. You can develop your own observation skills as a parent, but the depth and nuance of qualified Forest School practice is what makes the real difference.

So think of home practice as a way to reinforce and extend what happens at Forest School, not to replace it. The two work best together.

A Growth Mindset Starts Outside

Carol Dweck’s research on growth mindset, the belief that abilities develop through effort rather than being fixed at birth, maps naturally onto the Forest School experience. When a child tries to build a shelter and it collapses, they learn that failure is information, not defeat. When they try again with a different approach and it works, they experience genuine achievement. Over time, this builds a mindset that says: just because I cannot do something now does not mean I never will.

At home, you build this by praising effort over outcome, by letting your child struggle before you help, and by modelling your own willingness to try things you are not good at. Get outside with your children. Let them see you get muddy, get lost, get it wrong, and try again.

It Is Worth the Effort

Children who grow up with Forest School values tend to be confident enough to take risks and pursue their goals. They value themselves and the contribution they make. They have emotional intelligence, including self-awareness and empathy. They know how to cope in tough times and thrive independently when they need to. They understand their place in the world, their community, and the connections between their actions, other people, and the planet.

These are lofty claims for any educational approach, and the evidence base for Forest School is still growing. But the direction is clear, and the logic is sound. Children who are given real experiences, genuine responsibility, and the freedom to lead their own learning develop into more capable, more resilient, and more grounded human beings.

You do not need a forest to start. You just need to step outside, slow down, and let your child show you what they need.

---

References

1. Forest School Association. "Full Principles and Criteria for Good Practice." forestschoolassociation.org

2. Gray, P. (2011). "The Decline of Play and the Rise of Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents." American Journal of Play, 3(4), 443-463.

3. Bernard, J.Y. et al. (2017). "Predictors of Screen Viewing Time in Young Singaporean Children: The GUSTO Cohort." International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1), 112.

4. Brussoni, M. et al. (2012). "Risky Play and Children's Safety: Balancing Priorities for Optimal Child Development." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9(9), 3134-3148.

5. Nicholson, S. (1971). "How NOT to Cheat Children: The Theory of Loose Parts." Landscape Architecture, 62, 30-34.

6. Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House.

7. Louv, R. (2005). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books.

---

About Claire

Claire is the Founder and CEO of Wildlings, an environmental scientist by training and an environmental sustainability consultant and educator by trade. Claire is on a mission to help city kids experience a wilder childhood through the Forest School approach to learning and founded Wildlings in 2019 offering outdoor activities for children and families in Singapore.