If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise! Samantha Laurie unearths groundbreaking outdoor nurseries in Wimbledon, Chiswick, Wandsworth and Cobham
Great news for those who yearn for a more outdoor life for their children; London’s first ever full-time outdoor nursery, which began in Wimbledon 15 months ago, has seen its back-to-nature approach prove so popular that it is opening new nurseries in Wandsworth and Chiswick.
Little Forest Folk, whose charges spend all day climbing trees, tracking wildlife and cooking with mud in a wooded enclosure adjacent to Wimbledon Common, is Britain’s most ambitious application of the Scandinavian forest schools concept.
Children come for full days (8am – 6pm, £69) or sessional days (9.30am – 3.30pm, £55), with longer slots available in the new locations. Each day begins indoors with hot breakfast; then, clad in waterproofs, it’s out to the woods, before returning for a healthy homemade dinner.
In wild weather, base camp for Wimbledon is an eight-metre geodesic dome. At the new locations, shelter will come from a tepee.
“In fact, the kids have scarcely used the dome this winter – they’d rather be out in the mud, running around,” says James Barrett, who founded the nursery with his wife Leanna.
“If it works in Norway, with temperatures seriously low, it can work here too,” he adds.
In Surrey, Wildwoods Forest School runs an outdoor nursery school from a 28-acre site at Walton Firs in Cobham. Over 60 children a week come to its two hour sessions (£10-£12.50) for parents and toddlers, for pre-schoolers and for homeschooled children.
“Kids don’t need any encouragment to get outside,” says Jacqui Allbert, who founded the nursery two years ago. “But parents can be unsure what games to play so we get them to light fires and learn about nature. The beauty of woodland is that – unlike plastic toys – sticks, leaves, seeds, fruit and mud puddles are an endless resource.”
Interested in some outdoor adventure for your little nippers? Have a look at The Little Forest Folk and Wildwoods websites.
