All outdoors, all the time

All is quiet in the woods outside Frankfurt on this chilly spring morning until a group of 3- to 6-year-olds appears over the crest of a hill. Dressed in rain gear with small backpacks and rolled trail mats, they leap over fallen trees and narrow streams and puddles while two caretakers haul a small cart of tools and supplies.

Outside the city, the Forest Mice from St. Thomas Kindergarten are on their way to school, al fresco.

This is one of roughly 300 such "forest kindergartens" in Germany today - a trend that is growing quickly. In an age when concerns about obesity, poor concentration, and aggressive behavior run high, many German parents are eschewing computer screens and plastic toys in favor of outdoor education.

While most kindergartners play in heated classrooms and courtyards with slides and swings, the Forest Mice romp in the open air every day of the school year, rain or shine (there is a trailer for extreme weather conditions).

"Parents are more and more aware that consumerism and high technology do not necessarily provide advantages," says Marie Louise Sander, president of the National Association of Forest Kindergartens in Flensburg, home to the first German forest kindergarten, which started in 1993.

"Parents feel instinctively that their children need ... more than a perfect playroom. They need to develop outside the artificially created environment of doll houses and drawing tables," she says.

Unlike many European countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, Germany has no national standards for kindergarten, which includes children ages 3 to 7. Here, ages are mixed, so that 3-year-olds and 6-year-olds play together.

German kindergarten isn't mandatory - children start school at age 7 - but, by law, every child is entitled to a slot regardless of income. Kindergartens are public or private initiatives subsidized by municipal and regional governments. Most children participate.

For St. Thomas students, kindergarten starts at the subway station in Frankfurt at 8:15 a.m. The children meet for a 20-minute ride to the forest, where they will spend the next four hours. (Caretakers are reachable via mobile phones.)

Children hike from the subway to their breakfast area, asking questions along the way. The rules, which include staying within earshot, not picking flowers, and not touching animals, are strictly enforced.

"Look, here's a beetle!" exclaims caretaker Natacha Lautenschläger. She stops abruptly, crawls on the ground, and swiftly pulls out a guidebook as a herd of curious kindergartners gathers around her.

Breakfast, preceded by sharing time, takes place in a clearing, on wooden benches the children have built themselves. Melina has water duty, and holds a bottle so her classmates can wash up. The weather turns cold and Paul, the group's smallest "mouse" at age 3, starts screaming. "Shhh!" says Ute Constant, another caretaker. "You're scaring the little caterpillars!"

Playtime comes next, and children scatter into several groups. The emphasis is on imagination and communication, using nature's supplies for props. Tobias is a soldier; Charlotte a knight. Anne Katherine takes the role of the knight's horse. Each corner of the clearing becomes a learning platform.

"A playground doesn't change," says Ms. Lautenschläger. "A slide remains a slide. But nature evolves and lives. When it rains, there's a small brook to run over; when it snows they can slide. They experience the year's cycles. They can touch and comprehend nature."

Page: 1 | 2