Forest Kindergarten Program

Creativity in adults is highly valued in our society. Personal creativity contributes to inventiveness, innovation, social and cultural change as well as political development and economic progression. The creator is an innovator, a problem solver, an entrepreneur, an artist. Creative people have rapid and effective responses that help them to achieve their life goals and allow them to enjoy the journey. Creativity is both a skill set and a unique and individual character structure that is developed throughout childhood and fine-tuned in adolescence and adulthood. Education has a key role to play in its development. Positive creativity inspiring experiences at every stage of the educational journey are needed. This is especially true in early childhood. Educators who rise to the creativity challenge will be well rewarded in rich teaching experiences and the joy of seeing children reach their creative potential in supportive and integrated learning communities.

Nature school settings provide opportunities for experiential learning across many developmental domains. This study focused on an afterschool nature program in Santa Cruz County, California, which serves kindergarten through fifth grade students. The study was designed as a pilot to both learn about the program’s effectiveness, and to test the feasibility and effectiveness of methods for sustained program evaluation. The study showed positive and statistically significant results for most developmental areas and that teachers considered most effective those lessons that engage multiple developmental domains. Future program assessments should examine the number of developmental domains lessons engage and should partner with a local university or expert for periodic in-depth evaluation.