Nature-Based Early Childhood Education: A Review of the Evidence and Practical Frameworks for Implementation
The growth of nature-based early childhood education represents one of the most significant pedagogical trends of the past two decades. What began as a niche movement rooted in Scandinavian outdoor culture has expanded into a global phenomenon, with forest schools, nature kindergartens, and outdoor learning programs operating across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australasia. This expansion has been accompanied by a substantial and growing body of research that provides empirical support for what many educators have observed intuitively: children thrive when they learn in and through nature.
The Research Foundation
Cognitive Benefits
Ingunn Fjortoft's foundational study at Telemark University College in Norway, published in Landscape and Urban Planning (2001), compared children in a nature-based kindergarten with peers in a conventional setting and found significant advantages in motor fitness, balance, and coordination for the nature group. But subsequent research has shown that the cognitive benefits extend well beyond the physical.
Andrea Faber Taylor and Frances Kuo at the University of Illinois conducted a series of studies demonstrating that exposure to natural settings improves attention and concentration in young children. Their work, published in the American Journal of Public Health and Environment and Behavior, showed that even brief contact with nature, such as a walk through a park, improved children's performance on attention-demanding tasks. For children with attention difficulties, the effect was particularly pronounced.
Peter Grahn and colleagues at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences followed children in outdoor-oriented versus indoor-oriented preschools and found that the outdoor group demonstrated superior abilities in concentration, independent play, and group cooperation. These findings have been replicated in studies across Germany, Australia, and Canada, suggesting the effects are robust across cultural contexts.
Physical Health
The health benefits of nature-based education are well-documented. A comprehensive review by Gill (2014) identified consistent evidence that children in outdoor programs show:
- Improved gross motor skills including balance, agility, and upper body strength
- Lower rates of obesity and higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
- Strengthened immune function attributed to diverse microbial exposure, consistent with the "hygiene hypothesis" advanced by Strachan (1989) and supported by subsequent epidemiological research
- Better sleep patterns linked to natural light exposure and physical exertion
- Reduced myopia a finding with increasing significance given the global rise in childhood short-sightedness, attributed in part to insufficient time spent outdoors (Rose et al., 2008)
Social-Emotional Development
Louise Chawla's extensive research on children's connection to nature, synthesised in her book Growing Up Green (2015), documents the ways that outdoor environments support social-emotional development. Natural settings provide "loose parts," the term coined by architect Simon Nicholson, referring to open-ended materials that children can manipulate, combine, and transform. These materials promote more sustained, complex, and cooperative play than pre-fabricated toys.
Sobel (2016) observed that the inherent unpredictability of natural environments creates authentic opportunities for risk assessment, resilience building, and collaborative problem-solving that are difficult to replicate in conventional indoor settings. When a child decides whether to climb a fallen log, negotiates with a peer about how to dam a stream, or persists through the frustration of a construction that collapses, they are developing precisely the executive function and social-emotional competencies that predict later academic success.
Implementation Models
The Forest School Approach
Forest school, as practised in the United Kingdom following its introduction from Scandinavia in the 1990s, is characterised by regular, repeated visits to a woodland or natural environment where children engage in learner-led, open-ended activities. The Forest School Association identifies six key principles:
- Long-term process, not a one-off visit
- Takes place in a woodland or natural environment
- Promotes holistic development
- Offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks
- Is run by qualified practitioners
- Uses a range of learner-centred processes
Research by Murray and O'Brien for the Forest Research agency found that children attending forest school programs showed increased self-confidence, improved social skills, increased motivation and concentration, and greater physical stamina compared to matched peers in conventional settings.
Urban Nature Programs
Not every program has access to forests, but the research suggests that the benefits of nature-based learning can be achieved in diverse settings. Malone and Waite (2016) documented successful urban nature programs operating in schoolyards, community gardens, and urban parks. The critical factors were regular access, adequate duration (at least two hours per session), and trained educators who could facilitate learning through the natural environment rather than treating outdoor time as mere recreation.
Curriculum Integration
The most effective nature-based programs integrate outdoor experiences with established curricular frameworks rather than treating them as separate activities. IPC's thematic approach naturally lends itself to nature integration, with units on living things, seasons, materials, and community all finding authentic expression in outdoor environments.
Addressing Common Concerns
Weather and Safety
The Scandinavian saying "there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing" reflects the philosophy of committed nature-based programs. Research consistently shows that children in outdoor programs have comparable or lower injury rates than those in conventional settings, a finding attributed to the development of better risk-assessment skills through regular practice.
Equity and Access
One of the most compelling arguments for integrating nature into all early childhood programs is equity. Research by the Natural Learning Initiative at North Carolina State University has documented that children from low-income and minority communities have the least access to quality green spaces, yet stand to benefit the most from nature-based education given the documented stress-reduction and attention-restoration effects.
Evidence of Learning
A persistent concern among parents and administrators is whether children learn "enough" in outdoor settings. The evidence firmly addresses this. Waite, Bolder, and Luff (2016) found that children in nature-based programs met or exceeded conventional curriculum benchmarks while additionally demonstrating superior creativity, resilience, and intrinsic motivation to learn.
Conclusion
The evidence for nature-based early childhood education has reached a level of consistency and breadth that demands attention from educators and policymakers. The benefits span cognitive, physical, social-emotional, and environmental domains, and they are observed across diverse populations, cultures, and climatic conditions. As the early childhood sector continues to evolve, programs that intentionally incorporate meaningful nature experiences are not adopting a trend but aligning with a fundamental understanding of how young children learn best.
References: Fjortoft, I. (2001). Landscape and Urban Planning; Faber Taylor, A. & Kuo, F. (2009). Environment and Behavior; Gill, T. (2014). International Journal of Play; Sobel, D. (2016). Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens. Redleaf Press.