Setting up a Forest Nursery – Free videos

We recently met up with Leanna Barrett at one of her Little Forest Folks settings in Wimbledon Common. She contacted us after getting through to the final stages of a competition run by Edumission.

They had been selected, out of thousands of world wide entries, to create 4 short films about how their settings run and what’s special about their educational ethos. And being a successful, all year round forest nursery based in London makes them pretty unique.

Leanna was eager for any advice we could give her about making a training film about teaching young children. We gave as much advice as possible but as it seemed a daunting task for them, and we know only to well how difficult it is filming young children, we agreed to help them make their films.

Getting Outdoors

The time we spent at the Wimbledon Little Forest Folks was lots of fun. It was great seeing the children running, climbing, sliding and rolling, pretending, building, exploring and investigating all supported by excellent early years practitioners in an environment that no-one could get bored of. The effort and determination that is put in from everyone involved makes this setting a great one. Fulfilled staff and children who experience deep level learning in a playful and meaningful context was a joy to capture.

Hopefully with forest schools and nurseries becoming increasingly popular maybe outdoor education will become soon mainstream. So here’s to lots more forest settings popping up all over the country. What are you waiting for… start watching and get inspired.

Visit the new early years clip library

With 100s of short video clips to search through there's always going to be something that fits your needs. You can search for specific theories like forest nursery practice, learning outdoors, areas of play, learning strategies, age or setting and find just what you need to enhance your training and make learning stick. Additional information, prompts and reflection questions provide support and guidance for planning training.

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