Finland’s Experiment in Rewilding Preschools is Improving Children’s Health

Childhood is a time to spend outdoors exploring, jumping in puddles, and playing in mud not just looking at screens. That’s exactly what is happening in Finland where an experiment to rewild and bring forests into preschools is transforming the health and well-being of the children.

While it is well known that giving children access to the outdoors is good for their development, reported The Guardian, a two-year experiment that involved 75 children in 10 childcare centers, studied how exposure to dirt and mud, as well as the diversity of species in forests are also beneficial to health.

A year into the study, the children who were attending the rewilded preschools who were exposed to microbiome from soil, trees, and plants showed less disease-causing bacteria on their skin, and stronger immunity responses.

How Do You Rewild a Preschool?
Rewilding essentially means tearing up asphalt and replacing artificial surfaces with natural ones like mini forests. Soil, moss, bushes, compost beds, and native plants, along with some fallen logs to climb on have been brought into urban preschools play yards, according to edu-live, a resource for educators.

This is what happened to the Humpula preschool in Lahti where scientists and staff transported nature to the playground. The nursery resembles a child-run eco-garden, and the students grow carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, beets, and parsley. They harvest and cook what they grow.

While the growing season is over, the children are still outside in the winter when the temperatures are below zero and there is snow on the  ground.

The plants that were selected for the school also include blueberries and lingonberries so the children learn to forage, Aki Sinkkonen, a principal scientist with the Natural Resources Institute Finland, told The Guardian.

“This area has not been forested for 200 years so this is a substitute,” he said. In a wetland area they can balance on rocks and play among a different selection of plants. Five years ago, it was a gravel car park.

What’s Next
The experiment was so successful that 43 preschools across the country have been awarded grants to rewild yards. It’s good for the children’s health and development and gives them an appreciation for nature.

One school is Poutapilvi-Puimuri in Helsinki. “We told the architects we want nature in it,” said Marjo Välimäki-Saari, the center’s director. “We’re moving the action from inside to outside. We want to show the children nature, so they learn about it,”

Interest in Finland’s forest school is growing, reports The BBC, and they are spreading around the world as people see the benefits of connecting children with nature with outdoor schools.

One study showed that outdoor learning provides opportunities for children to develop an attachment to nature, as well as a sense of ownership and a desire to protect their forest school setting. For some schools, this is actually a fundamental part of their curriculum.

Children who understand their responsibility towards nature are more likely to take action to protect the environment and the planet.