“I am sad. I want to go out in the sun.”

That’s how my three-year-old expressed his feelings on month three of quarantine last spring. We had a small porch that faced the quiet parking lot where our company had housed us until our return to Beijing.  Really just a rectangular concrete block, this patio usually turned into my conference call area and the one place where the boys could dig into dirt with no consequence, so long as the dirt stayed off the shared sidewalk.

But that day he needed more. We were lucky in that our apartment was across the street from a little lake and woodsy area. So even though I hadn’t showered and my husband had a virtual meeting, I threw on some flip flops, sunglasses, gave him a hat, and said, “Let’s go kid. I need some sun too.”

This is not easy for me, to slow down and just enjoy being outdoors. It’s even harder now, back in the city of Beijing, when all of our moments are about going somewhere and doing something. Add to that how many families might feel if there’s an empty time slot in a day, it should be filled by enrichment activities or tutoring or lessons. It’s hard not to hear how well your neighbor’s kid speaks Mandarin and wonder if you, too, should hire a tutor for them 3 days a week.

But playing outdoors is important too, and so I sought out the advice of some of the best Forest School educators in Asia.

Kelly Goddard, based in Singapore and Founder of Forest Adventure Club, explains how the outdoors relieves stress. ”Children aren’t limited by small, contained, pressured environments. The outdoors offers space, more freedom, fresh air, sounds of nature, the ever-changing colors of the seasons, exposure to natural light and it has no expectations of us.”

I still find it difficult to remove myself from the hustle and bustle emanating from my mobile phone, even when outside. But Allison McGilligan, Founder at KindiZoo Nature Play and Creative Director at BalletZoo in Malaysia, reminds me that it is possible if we really try. “When we all go into nature, we take a breath. Nature has this magical recipe for calming all of us, no matter whether you like it or you don’t like it, it’s just a scientific fact.”

Discovering Mud and Slowing Down Time

We used to live in more temperate climates, and outdoor playtime was always important to our family. I distinctly recall when a barely crawling baby (the sun worshipper from the first story) saw a mud pile that his older brother had formed and carefully put one hand into it. Then he raised his other hand and fell into it as if in slow motion – face first. As I rolled him over onto his back, that huge smile couldn’t be denied. He loved it. For the next 30 minutes, his hands and feet just explored that mud.

Well, that’s what spare clothes are for. That’s also when I learned that my youngest will take his sweet time learning and exploring everything when outdoors, and I needed to adjust my mentality and schedule to accommodate him. As I said before, this is really really hard for me. I don’t like it. I like going from point A to point B and then experiencing the world at my destination. But his idea of a great walk is turning every crack in the sidewalk or brick design into a game that he must discover then conquer.

I just need to remind myself that this is how he learns, and in a much more detailed way than in his classroom, no matter how wonderful the school he attends.

Goddard in Singapore explains how outdoor play allows children to “have the confidence to run with their innate curiosity, creativity and take risks through their hands-on experiences…that empower them.” Parityada Punthapong (Kiki), co-founder and director of Outdoor School Bangkok, agrees that “The outdoor environment offers space which allows children to experience play-based learning and hands-on engagement. It enhances children’s understanding of the world – [fostering]relations with all living and non-living things around them.

Just Learning How to Climb on a Stack of River Rocks

For some reason I’m sure therapists would have a field day discussing, I was way more protective of my younger child than my oldest. So imagine my parental delight when he wandered off from a playgroup one day, took off his shoes, and started climbing up and down uneven, sharp rocks that lined a stream. He was only 20 months old at the time.

His balance and focus were so intense, I was able to stand back and only support when asked. We hear a lot about risk-taking for kids, especially as we try to overcome the label of “helicopter parents.” But Punthapong sees a particular avoidance of risk in Asia, and Thailand specifically: “Parents or caregivers can deny children the opportunity for learning and development in outdoor play, replacing it with the fear of what might go wrong..”

Risk goes beyond whether or not they can stop themselves from breaking their necks, however, and McGilligan breaks down how just the simple childhood act of climbing a tree will aid children in their development of activities we might see as more “educational”.

“Climbing a tree develops the hand to eye coordination in a young child…. Those fine motor skills you need to manipulate a pencil, to draw something that is recognizable – starts in the head, starts with balance, starts with walking, then climbing, then rolling, then hanging upside down, then swimming. So all of those dangerous things that we used to do as kids on a playground, we’ve become too health and safety conscious mainly from a liability point of view.

But a child that falls over and bangs her knee, she is actually going to learn far faster how not to do that the next time if you allow her to do it the first time.”

Every Morning is Forest School at the Lake

After that day last May when my son had to ask to see the sun, we spent every morning from around 10am to lunchtime at the little lake across the street. Sometimes I had an educational idea in mind, but more often than not, I just took my nice camera, put away my phone, and let the kids do their thing.

Yes, it meant that my husband met me at the door, where we stripped them down and chased them into the bathtub, where they could enjoy more uninhibited play, and it also meant they came at us with questions. Parts of the world they could only discover by getting dirty in the lake and avoiding fire ants came out in their curious questions, which often led us to an afternoon researching and playing with the gifts that nature gave them.

They would run, they would experiment, they would give each other mud baths, they would play. They would learn.

And they would smile.

KEEP READING: Explore Some of Beijing’s Best Kid-Friendly Parks

Images: Kelly Goddard, Cindy Marie Jenkins

Parents can meet schools that provide additional educational needs help like the Forest School at the 7th Annual Beijing International School Expo (BISE). The 2017 BISE will be held on February 18-19, 2017 from 10am-4pm at the Crowne Plaza Beijing Chaoyang U-Town. Find out more information about the event here.

When I was young we lived in a house with a forest behind it. Let me clarify: my brothers and I would open the garden gate to the forest! I never knew how lucky I was until I lived with my toddler and husband in London with no forest in sight.

I took her to Forest School playgroups in parks to do the things my brothers and I would do so many years ago in the forest behind our home. I watched with wonder how she played with sticks and leaves. It’s hard to find sticks and leaves in Beijing parks so she treasures them like they are family. Yes, she pretends sticks are her brothers and sisters. (I wonder if she is trying to tell me something.)

Karen Killeen is a Learning Support Teacher at Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS Beijing)  北京耀中国际学校, and we asked her what Forest School means.

She explained,“Forest School is a methodology. It started in Scandinavia in the ’70s, and now there are lots of kindergartens in Europe where children spend all day outside, learning and discovering. It is gaining popularity in the UK and many primary schools have access to a Forest School area which they use. It’s about using nature, or the ‘forest’ as your classroom and your resources. Playing outdoors supports physiological development in children and connecting with nature supports positive emotional well being.”

Killeen has been running Forest School programs for seven years. She started in the UK running a French Forest School.

“Kids remembered the words much easier because they could recall what they were doing and where they were at the time they learned the word. This boosted kids’ self-confidence and self-esteem which is all linked in to positive emotional well-being. This in turn increases resilience and is something kids can draw upon when faced with other challenges back in the classroom when they’re presented with a difficult task.”

Killeen just completed a 12 week program where she takes six YCIS students outside in Honglingjin Park for two and a half hours per week. The activities she designs encourage teamwork, motivation, self-regulation, empathy, communication, and self-awareness. The kids climb trees, build little houses, watch birds, have bug hunts, and create things using natural resources.

High AQI days means sometimes they are forced to stay inside, so Killeen has taught the kids to sew, and they have made bookmarks and purses. She also takes out hammers, and they make pictures with nails.

Killeen explained to me that many children don’t walk through woodland and walk around parks. “My students tell me that they spend most of their time out of school either doing more academic work or inside on screens.”

This is why my daughter and I try to find sticks whenever the AQI lets us, there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

Pauline van Hasselt has just started working for Beijing Kids. Born in Wassenaar, The Netherlands, she moved with her husband and her 3 year-old daughter to Beijing in June of this year. Prior she lived in the Netherlands, Belgium, Paraguay, Texas, and London, studying and working as a chef. Pauline enjoys biking around Beijing, finding markets and new restaurants, reading crime and fantasy books in bed, and most importantly, turning her house into a home for her family.