What do we offer?
We offer Forest School education and engaging play activities for children of primary school age.
If you are a parent or carer and you'd like to send your child or children to our Forest School camp, please go to our Holiday Camp Booking page.
If you are a teacher or work at a school in another role please go to our Schools and Eduation Programmes page where you'll find information about after school clubs we can offer, in-house sessions or teacher training.
If you have any questions please contact us, we'd love to hear from you!
About Us
Forest School at Kidz Kabin started as Linda's passion project when she learned about the benefits of outdoor activities and trained as a Forest School leader.
Linda has worked in Early Years education since 1996, is an Early Years teacher and trained as an Advanced Forest School Leader in 2019. Linda runs Kidz Kabin - a small group of 3 nurseries - one of which is located opposite Coldfall Woods in Muswell Hill. She believes in the power of children learning independently using imagination and practical skills, unhindered by the four walls of a classroom. Linda has been running forest school camps for primary school children since 2019 and recognises the huge benefits the outdoor learning environment offers every child.
To find out more about what you can expect from our holiday camps click here.
What is Forest School?
At its heart a Forest School is a place for children to play, learn and engage with the natural world outdoors. It is made safe by adults who are trained in outdoor education and who facilitate the experiences of the children. The staff scaffold and empower the children to lead on exploring where they want to go, what they want to learn and how they want to engage with their surroundings.
The outdoor environment is sometimes referred to as the ‘third teacher’. This is linked to research and informed by the Reggio Emilia approach.
The outdoors provides physical spaces for children to explore and encourages their curiosity. The following are from the National Quality Standard and are how we structure our Forest School setting:
-
The environment is inclusive, encouraging children to be independent and explore through play
-
The outdoor and indoors should be designed to engage children in high quality experiences.
-
Resources, equipment and materials should be arranged for children to engage in open ended experiences.
-
Children learn to care for their environment, show respect and learn about sustainability
The natural world fosters an interest in deep learning and links to all the areas of learning within the EYFS. These areas of learning are extended to engage primary school children, allowing them to use their imagination, developing cognitive and analytical skills, collaboration and team work.
These 7 areas of leaning are:
-
Communication and Language
-
Personal Social and Emotional
-
Physical Development
-
Literacy
-
Mathematics
-
Understanding the World
-
Expressive Arts and Design
Why is Forest School at Kidz Kabin different?
Forest School at Kidz Kabin started as Linda's passion project when she learned about the benefits of outdoor activities and trained as a Forest School leader.
We offer an extensive range of activities so every child can participate from physical movement such as walking, climbing, balancing on logs, rolling materials, and more. They develop greater core strength as well as developing their gross and fine motor skills.
The outdoors has been shown to reduce stress and increase wellbeing, resulting in higher levels of self esteem and confidence.
All participants are valued and listened to. Individuality is celebrated and relationship building is encouraged between diverse groups of children. Children are supported by adults to work in small cohesive groups, helping each other to achieve a common goal that they have decided.
We encourage children to communicate and work as a team. They learn to take responsibility for their surroundings and activities, and are encouraged to understand risk and negotiate boundaries with the group.
Children learn how to stay safe whilst making choices appropriate to their age and stage of development. Adults support the children and offer them opportunities to scaffold their learning, while ensuring safety is paramount.
We are always looking for the balance between independence and empowering children to use their own skills, follow their interests and imaginations while also providing safe structures for them to learn within. We also provide stimulating activities as inspiration for them, as well as skill development that they can then use as part of their play and learning in the woods.