What Forest School has taught me - from the interns’ perspective!

The first time I ever heard of a Forest School was probably a mention of it in the book “Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene” where they described briefly what goes on during a typical Forest School session. 

The second encounter with Forest School was when I was registering for my internship, and I told myself, “I love being in the jungle and I love teaching children, so why not right?”. Well, having been a Forest School Coach for more than a month now, I dare say this is by far one of the best jobs that I have had! The process hasn’t been the easiest but the fulfilment and satisfaction that we have when we see the smiles on the children’s faces and when we hear them saying that they have enjoyed the session (or camps!), make all the hard work and sweat worth it. 

So, what has Forest School taught me in my internship so far?

One of the most meaningful takeaways that I have so far is the importance of validating a child’s emotions. When I was first introduced to the pedagogy of Forest School, it was an absolute culture shock for me because having gone through more than 10 years of formal education in mainstream schools and being brought up in a traditional Asian household, the idea of acknowledging and recognising the child’s emotions before we say anything or carry out any actions is incredibly foreign to me. I was used to an environment where my parents would blame me for tripping and falling and would say things like “Ah, you see! Run some more lah! Run some more!” but to paint the same scenario in Forest School, when a child trips and falls, the coaches would never say things like that. Instead, the coaches will validate the child’s feelings and empathise with him/her by saying things like “I saw that you fell down and bruised your arm, you must be feeling very sad. I am so sorry that you got hurt. Is there anything that I can do to make you feel better?”. And I find this simple practice incredibly beautiful. 

As adults, we often think that we know better than the children. Hence, we tend to brush aside and disregard their feelings. However, we do not realise that these opportunities for them to share their emotions are valuable platforms that can build up their self-esteem and confidence. When we brush aside their feelings, gradually, they would not care to share anymore since nobody is listening. This is perhaps one of the main reasons why children often feel hesitant to share their feelings with those around them as they grow up. So, if you are reading this, do try to practice the validation of emotions with your children, friends, family or even your partner! (I can guarantee that you will be the best partner!)

Another takeaway that I have from this internship is the importance of empathy - not that we do not practice empathy in our daily lives, but in forest school, the coaches make it a point to verbalise thinking processes to spur children to think and to put themselves in others’ shoes. Questions like “If others do that to you, would you like it? How would you feel?” can often be heard when we observe behaviours that we do not want to encourage. These questions appear rather straightforward but for the young children, simple questions like these are able to get them to pause and reflect before deciding on their next course of action. For us coaches, these also serve as reminders to put ourselves in the position of the children to try to understand and see things from their perspectives. 

Why did they do what they did?
How should I respond to the situation?
How should I talk to the child?
Will they like it if I speak to them this way? 
How do I decide what to do?

Practising empathy is not easy, especially for the children but it is a very valuable learning process! 

Moving on to the next point……

In a recent session, I learnt the importance of giving children space - not rushing to comfort them or give them solutions when they act out or throw tantrums. This anecdote involves two children, let’s call them X and Y. 

X and Y are siblings, with a two-year age gap. On this day, X was rather grumpy (We learnt later on that X had a rather long week). 

Throughout the session, X would throw mini fits whenever the coaches did not give X the attention that X wanted. At one instant, when the coaches were preoccupied with something for less than half a minute, X got angry and X expressed anger through the stomping of legs repeatedly on the log that X was sitting on, while giving the coaches the side-eye. Thereafter, X stormed off to a distance away. X would look back at the coaches from time to time with an angry stare and with arms folded to emphasise the unhappiness. 

At that point, the natural instinct of a bystander would be to pursue and comfort X. But the other coach and I decided that we would want to give X some space to let out frustration, “storm it off” and observe how it would play out. We were taught to observe conflicts and see how they unfold before intervening, but that day, we agreed that X just needed some time and space alone to process emotions so we watched X from a distance. 

Just then, Y stumbled slowly to where X was standing. As if Y understood completely what X was feeling, Y gave X a big hug and a kiss. Y then decided that one kiss wasn’t enough - Y showered X with hugs and kisses. X couldn’t resist Y, and reciprocated the love that X received from Y. 

All was well again!

While this may seem like a simple story, the emotional understanding that Y developed for X, was really heart-warming and precious. We learnt on that day, the value of giving children their own space when they feel overwhelmed and the beauty of observing how others around them react to the situation. It was truly a wonderful day to be a Forest School coach!

Of course, conflicts are inevitable anywhere and everywhere but one of the most valuable lessons Forest School has taught me is that conflict resolution isn’t just about finding solutions. Sure, solutions are important but what’s more important is the process of resolving the conflict.

When the children engage in discussions to address their conflicts, it provides an opportunity for them to build their reasoning and communication skills as they learn to respect and listen to different points of view. We may not reach a common consensus at the end of the discussion and that is okay as long as we can observe growth in the children. The discussion process is a learning process for them, and for us coaches too!

Why do I say that?

When the children engage in discussions, we get to observe how they try to express their thoughts and feelings to each other and how they respond to each other’s ideas. Often, this reflects our interactions with the people around us as well. Even though we may be much older than the children, we could share the same responses as them when we are involved in conflict resolutions. For instance, we could be upset or disappointed when others disagree with us or shy away from sharing our thoughts and feelings in group settings, just like some children too. These situations then present themselves as a platform for us to learn from the children and to reflect on our own behaviours and actions! 

And now, the most important lesson (in my opinion!) that being a Forest School Coach has taught me is finding joy in the simplest things around us. Interacting with young children for this period of time has taught me to see the world through their eyes where the smallest leaves, flowers and fallen branches can bring them so much joy and the simplest materials like mud and soil can keep them occupied for a whole session (and mind you, each session is 3 hours long!). 

To the children, anything and everything can have a value and a potential storyline tagged to it in their imagination and this is something I find really precious and endearing. Perhaps it is their carefree spirits and their fascination in everything around them, or their ability to move at their own pace, I often find myself yearning to be like them again. These children seem to be immersed in their own world and it is very therapeutic to just stand by their side and listen to what they have to say. 

There is a kid in one of our regular sessions who is incredibly creative. We go into the session every week in anticipation of what he has to introduce to us. In our first few weeks of Forest School Sessions, we were introduced to his version of a Forest School Train System in which he had a whole system mapped out in his head with specific names and colours for each station and train lines! It was so impressive and beyond amazing to hear about his ideas! 

In another session, he wowed us with his imagination and ability to draw links between the plants he found around him to those found in herb shops. He pretended that he was the owner of a medicinal store and was even explaining which illness each type of plant could heal! 

Whenever we stumble across fallen tree branches on the ground, the children also view them as treasures as they associate the flora and fauna to Forest School Currency they can use to “purchase” items. When a fallen tree trunk was spotted in one of our sessions, the children also used it as their new base to hold “prisoners” hostage as they introduced their own narratives to engage the group in group plays.

These are just some of the most memorable instances when I was mind blown by the children’s imagination and their ability to find joy in the smallest things in their environment. There is truly no limit to their creativity and this makes every session so unique and enjoyable! 

Each session teaches us something new and this list is non-exhaustive! We hope you enjoyed reading this! Till our next post! 😊