Experts on Nature-Based Education
Discover what leading educators, researchers, and practitioners from around the world are saying about the transformative power of learning in nature.
Niki Buchan - Australia
Jane W. Siegfredsen - Denmark
Laurence Nachin - Sweden
Erin Kenny - America
Pete Moorhouse - England
Jamie Byron - America
Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter - Norway
Mary Skopec - America
What Does the Research Say About Forest Kindergartens?
Key Studies from Around the World
For more than two decades, researchers across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America have been asking the same questions parents ask: Are children in forest kindergartens healthy? Do they develop well? Will they be ready for school? The answer, study after study, is encouraging. Each summary below explains what the researchers did, what they found, and why it matters for your child or your practice.
Movement & the Body
Strong bodies grow in forests
Children who play in forests move better
Norway · 2001
When researcher Ingunn Fjørtoft compared 5–7-year-olds who played daily in a forest with children using a traditional playground, the forest group made significantly greater gains in motor fitness — especially balance and coordination. Slopes, rocks, trees, and uneven ground naturally invited climbing, running, and balancing in a way no playground equipment can.
Why it matters: One of the most cited studies in the field, and the foundation of the forest kindergarten idea — nature itself is the best movement teacher.
Fjørtoft, I. (2001). The Natural Environment as a Playground for Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 111–117. Read more
Outdoor kindergartens keep children active all day
Denmark · 2023
Danish researchers examined whether outdoor kindergartens could work as a public-health measure to raise physical activity in early childhood. Their conclusion: spending the day in natural settings builds movement into children's everyday lives — not as an "extra activity", but as the way the day simply works.
Why it matters: Forest kindergartens are not only an educational choice; they are a health investment recognised in public-health research.
Rohde, J. F., et al. (2023). Outdoor Kindergartens: A Structural Way to Improve Early Physical Activity Behaviour? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 20(6), 5131. Read more
Health & Immunity
Nature strengthens children from within
A forest floor strengthens children's immune systems in one month
Finland · 2020
In a landmark experiment published in Science Advances, Finnish researchers brought the forest to the children: they covered the paved yards of urban daycare centres with forest floor material, sod, and planter boxes. After just 28 days, children's skin and gut microbiota had diversified and their blood showed improved immune regulation — changes associated with protection against allergies and immune-mediated diseases.
Why it matters: The strongest biomedical evidence yet that daily contact with forest nature literally trains a child's immune system. Children in forest kindergartens receive this "dose of nature" every day.
Roslund, M. I., et al. (2020). Biodiversity intervention enhances immune regulation and health-associated commensal microbiota among daycare children. Science Advances, 6(42). Read more
Green, varied outdoor spaces mean healthier children
Sweden · 2013
Pediatric researchers measured the health of 172 preschoolers across nine day care centres and assessed the quality of each centre's outdoor environment. Children at centres with large, green, varied outdoor spaces — trees, shrubs, hilly terrain — showed better health indicators, including longer night sleep. Related Swedish research found these children also showed fewer inattention behaviours.
Why it matters: It's not just time outdoors that counts — the quality of the natural space matters. Forest kindergartens offer the richest outdoor environment there is.
Söderström, M., et al. (2013). The quality of the outdoor environment influences children's health. Acta Paediatrica, 102(1), 83–91. Read more
Thinking & Learning
Forests grow focused minds
More outdoor hours, better working memory
Norway · 2017
Following 562 preschoolers for four years, researchers found a dose–response relationship: the more hours children spent outdoors in kindergarten, the better their working memory — and the fewer symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity they showed, with effects lasting into first grade.
Why it matters: Outdoor time isn't a break from learning; it appears to actively support the brain functions children need for school.
Ulset, V., et al. (2017). Time spent outdoors during preschool. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 52, 69–80. Read more
Forest kindergarten children think ecologically
Israel · 2023
A study of 78 children compared forest and traditional kindergartens and found that forest kindergarten attendance was the main factor behind children's stronger ecological understanding and executive function — regardless of how "green" their families were at home.
Why it matters: Forest kindergartens nurture both the thinking skills children need and the environmental awareness our planet needs.
Orr, E. (2023). Forest kindergarten: fostering ecological cognition and executive function in preschoolers. Early Child Development and Care, 193(5). Read more
School Readiness
Ready for school — the forest way
Forest kindergarten children are ready for school
Germany · 2003
The classic German study. Peter Häfner of Heidelberg University compared children from Waldkindergärten and regular kindergartens during their first year of elementary school. The forest kindergarten children were just as well prepared and showed advantages in motivation, concentration, social behaviour, and cooperation.
Why it matters: This study answered the question German parents asked first — "will my child fall behind?" — with a clear no, and helped the Waldkindergarten movement grow into the thousands of settings that exist today.
Häfner, P. (2003). Natur- und Waldkindergärten in Deutschland. Doctoral dissertation, University of Heidelberg. Read more
Nature and traditional preschoolers are equally prepared
USA · 2019
American researchers compared a nature-based and a traditional preschool programme within the same school, with families from the same community. At the end of the year, both groups showed equal kindergarten readiness — academically, socially, and emotionally.
Why it matters: Learning outdoors is just as effective as learning in a classroom — while bringing all the additional health and wellbeing benefits described on this page.
Cordiano, T. S., et al. (2019). Nature-Based Education and Kindergarten Readiness. International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, 6(3). Read more
Courage & Resilience
Brave play builds strong hearts
Risky play protects children from anxiety
Norway · 2011
Researchers Sandseter and Kennair showed that children's natural drive to climb high, move fast, and explore is not a problem to be managed away — it has a purpose. Through "risky play", children gradually expose themselves to things they fear and master them, building courage and resilience. Children deprived of these experiences may carry more fear and anxiety later in life.
Why it matters: The trust forest kindergartens place in children — to climb, balance, and explore — is backed by psychology. Supervised risk is not a danger; it is a developmental need.
Sandseter, E. B. H., & Kennair, L. E. O. (2011). Children's Risky Play from an Evolutionary Perspective. Evolutionary Psychology, 9(2), 257–284. Read more
Confidence, Wellbeing & Community
Growing confident children — and stronger families
Forest School builds confidence and communication
United Kingdom · 2007
The foundational British evaluation tracked 24 children across England and Wales over eight months. Six areas of growth emerged: confidence, social skills, language and communication, motivation and concentration, physical skills, and knowledge of the natural world. Benefits rippled outwards to teachers and families too.
Why it matters: These six themes have shaped how the whole world understands and measures what forest education does for children.
O'Brien, L., & Murray, R. (2007). Forest School and its impacts on young children. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 6(4), 249–265. Read more
Forest School works for every child
United Kingdom · 2024
One of the newest studies followed 3-year-olds from an ethnically diverse, economically deprived urban community in Bradford — children who had rarely or never been in a woodland. The children grew in self-confidence, self-awareness, and independence, and their parents began taking them outdoors more themselves. One mother described how Forest School changed her family's life.
Why it matters: Nature-based education is not a privilege for some — this research shows it works powerfully for children who start with the least access to nature.
Cronin de Chavez, A., et al. (2024). Unlocking the forest. Wellcome Open Research, 9:519. Read more
Parents see happier children
Poland · 2024
In one of the newest European studies, Polish parents explained why they chose a forest kindergarten: dedicated educators, a space for holistic development, their child's wellbeing, and the setting's eco-philosophy. They described the forest kindergarten simply as "a place where children feel happy" — and reported growing nature interest, ecological awareness, and better health and fitness in their children.
Why it matters: As forest kindergartens spread through Central and Eastern Europe, parents' voices tell us what statistics cannot — what it feels like and that this education works.
Parczewska, T. (2024). A place for a happy childhood: forest kindergarten from the perspective of Polish parents. Environmental Education Research, 31(5). Read more
The Big Picture
What reviews of all the research show
A large effect, measured across 30 studies
South Korea · 2016
South Korea has one of the world's most developed forest education systems. A meta-analysis combining 30 Korean studies found a large overall positive effect of forest experience on young children (effect size 0.797). The biggest effects came from daily forest activities, programmes lasting four months or more, and groups of 10–20 children.
Why it matters: Beyond confirming that forest experience works, this research tells us how to design programmes: regular, long-term, and in small groups — exactly the forest kindergarten model.
A Meta-Analysis for the Effect of Forest Experience on Young Children. Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science, 2016. Read more
Two decades of research, seven benefits
International review · 2022
Reviewing every Forest School study published between 2000 and 2019, researcher Ziad Dabaja identified seven consistent areas of positive impact: social and cooperative skills, physical skills, self-confidence and self-esteem, educational attainment and cognitive skills, emotional and psychological wellbeing, environmental awareness and belonging, and risk management skills.
Why it matters: Across countries, methods, and decades, the same seven benefits keep appearing.
Dabaja, Z. F. (2022). The Forest School impact on children: reviewing two decades of research. Education 3-13, 50(5), 640–653. Read more
The scientific verdict on forest kindergartens
Systematic review · 2023
The most rigorous recent synthesis, published in Educational Psychology Review, analysed 16 studies with around 1,560 preschool children. Children attending forest kindergartens showed greater benefits than indoor peers in cognitive function, motor coordination and balance, and connectedness to nature. The reviewers also note honestly where evidence is still mixed and call for more research — a call our association supports.
Why it matters: When all the rigorous studies are weighed together, the balance clearly favours forest kindergartens — and the open questions show where the field is heading next.
Sella, E., et al. (2023). Psychological Benefits of Attending Forest School for Preschool Children: a Systematic Review. Educational Psychology Review, 35(29). Read more — open access
In summary
From Norway to South Korea, from Finland to Israel, the research points in one direction: children who spend their early years learning in forests grow strong bodies, resilient immune systems, focused minds, courageous hearts — and a lifelong bond with nature. And they arrive at school just as prepared as their peers.
© International Association of Forest Kindergartens
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