Forest school activities for toddlers and preschool

Here’s a great collection of forest school activities for toddlers and preschooler.

 

Forest school activities for toddlers and preschool

There’s a growing number of schools and play groups which are taking place outdoors in the woods.

At these forest schools children, dressing in warm or waterproof clothing to match the weather, spend most, if not all, of their day outside, playing and learning in nature.

Some nurseries and play groups are designed so all the activities are outside. And more and more traditional child-care settings are creating woodland corners in their grounds, so children can spend part of their day getting the benefits of forest school.

Being outdoors lets children have open access to fresh air and lots of space to run around.

It promotes a connection to nature and a love of the environment.

All the traditional areas that we want our children to start learning about – like language and math skills – are still encouraged and developed, but the children get to use sticks and fir cones and leaves as their materials.

 

Forest schools ideas for toddlers and preschoolers

If you have a little woodland pixie who loves to play outdoors, here’s a wonderful collection of forest school ideas for toddlers are preschool that you can use to take learning into the woods.

Measure leaves.

Trace the veins on leaves.

Make a leaf crown.

Build your own family tree.

Print in play dough with nature finds.

Find out what lives in soil.

Print art with pebbles.

Make nature shapes.

Paint sticks.

Count with pebbles and sticks.

Learn the parts of a plant.

Go on a leaf hunt – free printable!

Go fishing for leaves.

Roller paint with conkers.

Make clay faces.

Make conker caterpillars.

Create nature suncatchers.

Collect a forest alphabet.

Paint with branches.

Make art with flowers.

Weave around conkers.

Make leaf suncatchers.

Make leaf rubbing plates.

Create leaf art in twig frames.

Make nature faces.

Practice lacing with leaves.