VASHON ISLAND, Wash. — When they’re outside, the children in Erin Kenny’s class don’t head for cover if it rains or snows.
They stay right where they are — in a private 5-acre forest. It’s their classroom.
They spend three hours a day, four days a week here, a free-flowing romp through cedar and Douglas fir on Vashon Island in Puget Sound.
The unique “forest kindergarten” at Cedarsong Nature School is among several that have opened recently in the U.S., part of movement that originated in Europe to get kids out from in front of TVs and into the natural world. In addition to Kenny’s, at least two other schools have been established: one in Portland, Ore., and another in Carbondale.
“American children do not spend much time outdoors anymore,” she said. “There’s a growing need and an awareness on parents’ part that their children really need to do more connecting with nature.”
Children “tend to retain the information better because they’re actually touching and feeling and tasting the lessons,” Kenny said.
Mom Meghan Magonegil said she wasn’t sure at first whether an all-outdoor school would work.
“Once we got here, I would pick Finn up, and he’d be wet and muddy and smiling and happy, and I knew it was perfect,” she said of her son.
