Children are stuck inside, glued to screens. Are 'forest schools' the antidote?

On a glorious summer day, a preschooler named Roger teetered on rocks dotting a creek in eastern Orange County, unsure if he could make it back to where his classmates and caregivers were waiting. A volunteer youth mentor with Earthroots Field School stuck out her hand, reassuring the 3-year-old, who grasped it and took one confident step toward her. Then another.

“There we go!” someone called out as he cleared the burbling waterway. Pushing edges — like learning to balance on rocks without a parent swooping in — is a central tenet of nature-based education, according to Angela Capps, a teacher at the school, one of a rapidly growing number of early education providers that are centered around the natural world. Nature-based education — sometimes called forest schools , nature preschools or outdoor kindergartens — is based on a straightforward premise: “that it’s really good to have kids outdoors a goodly chunk of their day,” said David Sobel, professor emeritus at Antioch University New England and author of “ Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education .

” Indeed, researchers have found nature-based learning supports creativity, resiliency, executive function, school readiness and a host of other benefits for the body and mind. Scandinavia-originated forest schools arrived in the U.S.

in the 1960s and are part of the broader nature-based education movement. In recent years, the concept has exploded amid worries about children getting lost.