Outdoor Learning Part 5: Forest Nature Schools and Physical Wellbeing

This multi-part series of blog posts on Outdoor Learning has been adapted from a Final Academic Paper for one of my Early Childhood Development courses at the University of Winnipeg.

The Medicine Wheel is a First Nations teaching that considers a person’s wellbeing to include “mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of the self” (Jagger, p. 7). The next few blog posts in this series use these four domains of wellbeing to review how outdoor learning can support children’s overall wellbeing leading to positive outcomes and increased capacity to thrive. This post, Part 5, focuses on physical wellbeing. 

Outdoor Learning & Overall Physical Health 

Outdoor learning supports many components of children’s overall physical health, offering full and diverse physical development through complex movements. Natural environments provide more dynamic and rough playscapes than indoor environments. Intuitively, this encourages children to engage in more physical challenges and play than when indoors. In one study, research found that children in outdoor learning environments had less absences due to sickness, however, another study found no differences in their research so the evidence in this area remains inconclusive. Other studies assert that playing in the soil can boost serotonin while sunshine boosts vitamin D.

Sella et al. also found that children in forest kindergarten “showed significant improvements in overall subjective sleep quality” including fewer sleep disturbances, less sleep disordered breathing and lower daytime sleepiness levels compared to children attending indoor kindergarten (p. 17). 

Outdoor Learning & Physical Development Skills 

Outdoor learning supports the development of a strong and agile body, encouraging practice for both fine and gross motor skills.  One researcher documented significant motor improvement, balance and coordination as children learned about their body in relation to the outdoor environment around them. Another study outlines the various complex movements that children are able to engage in at FNS such as climbing, walking in snow, and stepping around sticks and branches, which can lead not only to strength, but also proprioception and neural development. Rob, an outdoor education teacher shares their observation of increased ankle sprains in children in indoor classrooms: 

“Rob suspects that some children are spending most of their lives moving only on level surfaces such as flat floors, stairs or escalators, and manicured, leveled fields; the children’s formative years of development lack the diverse terrain that would require them to make subtle ankle shifts as they balance and move on hillsides or uneven ground, as frequently occurs in natural settings” (MacEachren, 2013, p. 225).

Two children climb across a fallen tree in summer

Three children pull at a rope that's attached to the top of a broken tree

Two children in winter pull a sled with one child inside, while another pushes

Two children in winter slide down a hill on pieces of cardboard

A child carefully steps around sticks to collect something they see on the ground

A child navigates a rope ladder set up between two trees

Two children and one educator balance on a fallen tree, as though it's a motor vehicle

Four children work together to push a wagon down a forest path in fall

A child balances on a log while three others climb around her

Sources:

Abdelnour, E. et al. (2022), ADHD Diagnostic Trends: Increased Recognition or Overdiagnosis?, Science of Medicine, 119(5), 467-473. 

Blenkinsop, S. et al. (2016). A surprising discovery: five pedagogical skills outdoor and experiential educators might offer more mainstream educators in this time of change, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 16(4), 346-358. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2016.1163272. 

Boileau, E. & Dabaja, Z. (July 2020). Forest School practice in Canada: a survey study, Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 23, 225-240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42322-020-00057-4. 

Bowra, A. et al. (2020). Indigenous learning on Turtle Island: A review of the literature on land-based learning, The Canadian Geographer, 65(2), 132-140. https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12659. 

Fjørtoft, I. (2001). The Natural Environment as a Playground for Children: The Impact of Outdoor Play Activities in Pre-Primary School Children, Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 111-117. 

Forest School Canada. (June, 2014). Forest and Nature School in Canada: A Head, Heart, Hands Approach to Outdoor Learning. https://assets.ctfassets.net/e09p19lzfrfe/5RyDjPIySeoIFEJIpdzrdQ/c5933ef778e930792a3e80792d841457/FSC-Guide_web.pdf. 

Harris, F. (August, 2025). Journeys through forest school: a model for understanding diverse educational experiences of children, Environmental Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2025.2529544. 

Jagger, S. (Ed.). (2025). Early years education and care in Canada: Engaging with the past,

the present, and future possibilities (2nd ed.). Canadian Scholars.

Karavida, V. et al. (December, 2020), Forest Schools: An Alternative Learning Approach at the Preschool Age, Journal of Education & Social Policy, 7(4), 116-120. http://dx.doi.org/10.30845/jesp.v7n4p12. 

MacEachren, Z. (2013). The Canadian Forest School Movement, LEARNing Landscapes, 7(1), 219-233. 

McCree, M. et al. (2018). The Hare and the Tortoise go to Forest School: taking the scenic route to academic attainment via emotional wellbeing outdoors, Early Child Development and Care, 188(7), 980-996. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2018.1446430. 

M’Lot, C & Ferguson, K. (Eds.) (2025). Renewal: Indigenous Perspectives on Land-Based Education In and Beyond the Classroom. Portage & Main Press.

Outdoor Play Canada. (May, 2024). Appendix C - Outdoor ECE Database. https://www.outdoorplaycanada.ca/portfolio_page/outdoor-ece-database/. 

Parsons, K.J. & Traunter, J. (2020). Muddy knees and muddy needs: parents perceptions of outdoor learning, Children’s Geographies, 18(6), 699-711, https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2019.1694637. 

Sella, E. et al. (March, 2023). Psychological Benefits of Attending Forest School for Preschool Children: a Systematic Review, Educational Psychology Review, 35(29). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09750-4. 

Van Schijndel, T. & Jansen, B. (2025). Integrating lines of research on children’s curiosity-driven learning, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 252.