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‘Wild Forest Classroom’ is a website designed to inspire and motivate parents

and educators to connect children to nature through stories.

Children

Children’s health and well-being is at an all time low, with many suffering from anxiety depression and isolation. Childhood obesity is at an all time high.

In his book ‘ Last child in the woods’ Richard Louv coined the phrase, ‘Nature deficit disorder.’ He argues that children are spending more time indoors, which makes them feel alienated from nature and more vulnerable to negative moods and reduced attention span. He says that ‘ social and technological changes in the past three decades have accelerated the human disconnect from the natural world.’

It is now widely recognised that children with regular access to green spaces are happier and experience improved concentration at school and better behaviour at home. Children that grow up spending time outdoors will be healthier happier and  more likely to care about nature when they grow up.

So how’s nature doing?

Nature has been degraded to such an extent that our country is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world with one in six species at risk of being lost from Great Britain. Our planet is suffering from massive loss of biodiversity.

Biodiversity refers to every living thing, the rich variety of life on earth, including, animals trees, plants, bacteria and fungi – in short  – NATURE.

Thousands of species of animals and plants are at risk of extinction due to human activities. Biodiversity has been declining steadily since after the war up until the 1970’s and steeply ever since. Since the 1970’s birds animals and insects have been disappearing so quietly that most people haven’t even noticed.

Sixty years ago there were 36 million hedgehogs in the UK, now there’s not even a million.

Terrifying isn’t it.

So getting children outdoors and teaching them about the environment is not only sensible it is essential.

They are the custodians of the future. Their attitudes and interests including a love of nature will determine if the downward spiral of diversity loss continues.

Climate change

The reality of climate change and its impacts are finally being recognised. These impacts will intensify in the coming decades and our children are the ones who will have to deal with the consequences.

When I was growing up the climate was already changing. But media representation of climate change was limited to snippets on the television about sea level rise, and the information of other possible effects was misleadingly narrow.

Climate change was nothing definite, just something that might happen in the far distant future.

But now the future has slipped into the present. We can’t keep the facts hidden from our children as they were hidden from us. It’s time to educate our children about climate change.

There’s no point hiding the narrative of climate change from our children.

They have a knack of finding out what we don’t want them to know anyway so we might as well tell them the truth.

So let’s tell them, ‘This is where we’re at so let’s start from here and make things better.’

If we teach children that their actions will make a difference, they will become less anxious and more hopeful about the future.

Teaching our children about environmental issues is essential but the stories we tell must make it a positive and even magical experience, they must offer hope and inspire action.

The stories in the resource section of this website are stories I have told at Forest school, used to explain nature concepts and make them easier for children to understand.

The ideas can be used by parents at home or Forest School leaders, or anyone wanting ideas to get children outside and connecting with nature.

If you are reading this and looking for ideas to get children interested in nature or to introduce nature themes into Forest School sessions, feel free to use them. I will be adding to them regularly and would value any feedback and suggestions.

It’s time to tell children the truth.

Everyone can make a difference. Momentum is created when enough people take action and make appropriate lifestyle changes.

It’s not too late but we must start straightaway.

So how do we connect children and nature?

The consequences of our changing climate can feel very scary, but stories provide a safe way of exploring this frightening and difficult subject.

My ‘ Save the Planet series’  introduces the subject of climate change in a fun yet educational way.

Reading to your children about climate change gives you the opportunity for discussion; an opportunity to build a lifelong understanding and love of nature and teach them how important it is that we heal and protect our planet for them and for future generations.

Knowledge is empowering, so once a child knows why the climate is changing and how their actions can have a positive impact, they will become more hopeful and realise it is not too late to make a difference.