"Waldkindergarten" - outdoor preschool/wood kindergarten

[elizaear]

I am from the states but live in Germany with my family. My children are 1.5 and 3 years old, my 1.5 year old is in day care and my 3 year old is in a German Waldkindergarten. This means:

They meet (their teachers) at the train station every morning at 8am and take the train two stops to just outside of town. From there they walk into the forest and spend the morning outside - breakfasting, playing, doing arts and crafts, running, jumping, rolling, inspecting plants and animals, learning about seasons and food, and just about anything kids usually do inside - just outside in the forest.

Around noon they head inside for lunch and a nap. In the afternoon they either stay inside and play (with trains, blocks, puzzles, paints, etc.) or they go outside and play on their playground (mainly a big sandbox). The kindergarten is open until 5pm.

Have you ever heard of anything like this in the states? Where can I find kindergartens like this?

[velochic]

I am from the US, moved back from Germany 2 years ago. I was unable to find one.

[elizaear]

Thanks for your answer, though. Were you involved in a Waldkindergarten in Germany? It makes me sad, but we have the choice of either staying here or leaving and we will probably stay, because I just can't imagine my kids spending their early-childhood-daycare-days any other way. But I do get homesick...

[moonfroggy]

i know there is at least one in california but i forget where. my cousin hwo i think is three years old is in an outdoor preschool in norway but they are outside year round and have no indoor space at all just a place with light shelter but not really indoors.

[elizaear]

Maybe I should have posted this in the general education forum... I don't even know how to find out about this kind of kindergarten - I don't know what it would be called or where I could look for one.

The idea does come from Scandinavia and varies in its implementation. Many of these kindergartens in Germany offer only morning-day care and have a trailer to go into for bad weather and drop off/pick up time. We are very lucky that ours is a full fledged preschool/kindergarten - but yes, the kids are outside every day all morning: rain, snow, sleet, sunshine... They were inside this spring a couple of days because we had an Orcan come through.

Is there any way to move this post?

[Mary-Beth]

This is, in part, why we homeschool. We spend a great portion of our day outside. We have other homeschoolers join us often for group learning and games which require more kids. Not sure if that is an option or an interest in your situation. Best wishes finding or creating what you want.

[elizaear]

We live in Germany right now - our kids go to kindergarten because we are finishing up school ourselves. And if we were to move back to the states (my husband is German) it would be in part because there are more interesting jobs for me stateside.

Kind of paradox - more interesting jobs (not to mention my ouwn culture), but living there would mean needing to homeschool for lack of better options. I can stay here and work in a somewhat-less-than-dream-job, but my kids love going to school and I know that it's really good for them. I'm starting to get used to the idea of living in Germany for the rest of my life.

[moonfroggy]

wikipedia has an article on outdoor preschools called wood kindergarten here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_kindergarten

i did once manage to find a few in the united states looking on google but i don't seem to be finding any now. i plan to homeschool my child and make spending time outside a huge part of that. we probably won't be out in the middle of the day though because i sunburn so easily and my child probably will be getting my fair skin and sunburn easily as well. i find outdoor schools very fascinating.


edit to add:
i did find this http://www.lakeoswegoreview.com/sust...68384457083300
looks like one is starting up someplace

[elizaear]

I actually found that Waldorf outdoor kindergarten today - it's a start! But the wikipedia article is only a loose translation from the German article...

[lauren]

I can move this to the general Learning at School forum since it seems to defy categorization!

Hope you get someone else who knows more about this interesting approach!

[PatchChild]

This sounds heavenly. I'm jealous. Good luck.

[destinybound]

There are some nature preschools...

http://www.ecoinstitute.org/naturelinks.html

[beanma]

my dd1's school sounds a little bit like this, but they do have more indoor time. they have a 12 acre campus and are outside every day. they go on nature walks on science days (2 days a week) and other days at the teacher's whim. they play on the wooded playground every day rain or shine. my dd1 does not like being outside in the cold though...brrrr...

we do have a native german mom at school!

are you interested in moving to a particular region of the US? that might help narrow things down.

[earthmama369]

Wow. That sounds awesome.

[elizaear]

are you interested in moving to a particular region of the US?

Good question. Not now. We are finishing up school and then we are open for change, depending on lots of factors. And a kindergarten is one of them. But my stance is starting to change...

I read recently that 5% of German kids are in these so-called "Waldkindergartens" - it may not seem like a lot but they are catching on here. Ours was founded by a mom who really wanted her daughter to go to this kind of kindergarten last year. It opened in August and my ds started there in October. He loved it from the start. (He's always been a day care kid since we have to study, but he had recently switched from his great day care to a very nice kindergarten (2.5-7) where he was absolutely miserable. From the first day on in the forest there's been no turning back, no misery, no "but I don't want to". We just had a 3 week summer break and he asked after 4 days when he gets to go back to kindergarten! He's 3!!)

The founding was hard work and there is still enough to do around and about, but everything runs quite well. The hours are awesome, the teachers are great, the concept is to die for. Maybe I'll dive into the behind-the-scenes work here and try to found one myself if we ever move.

I'm from the Chicago area, and I already have enough ideas about where this kind of kindergarten could be "implemented" - I bet every city has enough possibilities. Even Berlin has multiple Waldkindergartens - some of them (in cities) meet in big city-parks or forests.

I really hope that this starts to catch on. If anyone wants to look at some pictures or knows any German, our kindergarten's website is: http://www.waldkinder-ilmenau.de there are some pics if you click on "Wissenswertes" and "Galerie" (edit: here Pictures)

Maybe I'll get around to translating it sometime...

[EStraiton]

Although not exactly what you described, my home Playgarden is similar in nature.. also many of the women on my natural childcare groups run programs like mine. I have a childcare directory on my website but it is not nearly as full as I would like - maybe this could be a starting point for you? Or feel free to join my yahoo groups on the home page of my website.

xoxo
Eileen

[elizaear]

Thanks Eileen! It's nice learning about new and interesting nature-based day cares - I'm glad that the concept does exist!

I'm still blown away by how incredibly different our Waldkindergarten is - and I'm incredibly thankful. I don't even know if this would be entirely possible (as it is here) in the states. There are just forests all over the place in Europe that more or less belong to nobody. (As you may notice: I'm not even close to being an expert.) They belong to the city, or the state, or the country and are often "rented" to the forester or a hunter or such for long periods of time. But they aren't like state parks. Anyways, the kids have a whole forest to play in. Hills and streams and feeding-locations and little cliffs and large meadows and on and on. Check out the pictures.

And thanks again!

[Licorice Whip]

They are starting a nature-based school in Portland, OR, this year. I don't know much about it as it's just starting up, but you can visit the website at http://www.shiningstarschool.com/.

[Qestia]

we have a farm-based preschool near me, at about $15,000 per academic year (for half-days) it's out of our league, unfortunately.

[MotheringMum]

I am so excited to have found out this sort of thing exists. I'd love for my kids to attend one of these daycares!

If you know of anything in my area, I'd be so grateful!

Thanks!: