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Raising Wildlings — Kids & Family
Raising Wildlings

Welcome to Raising Wildlings, a podcast about parenting, alternative education and stepping into the wilderness, however that looks, with your family. Each week, we’ll be interviewing experts that truly inspire us, to answer your parenting and education questions. We’ll also be sharing stories from some incredible families that took the leap, and are taking the road less travelled. Whether you’re a parent looking for tips on how to better handle those sibling squabbles and tantrums, a couple searching for ways to create more freedom within your family’s lifestyle, an educator keen to explore alternative schooling models and how children learn, a father keen to delve into respectful parenting philosophies, or a mother wanting to learn more about why play is so important and how to get children outdoors safely, then this is the podcast for you. Each week you’ll get tried and tested tactics from parenting, play and education experts to help you on your journey towards creating the happiest, healthiest lifestyle you can for your family. We’ll also chat to real life families who have created freedom within their lives and are living life on their own terms. They’ll teach you how they did it and how you can too. And of course, you’ll hear from us about all things nature play and alternative education. We’ll answer all your questions on how children learn, the importance of play in all its forms, children’s rights and autonomy, and how to get your children outside safely, more often. This podcast hopes to empower parents and educators to raise kinder, more resilient, more adaptable children by helping them maintain happy connections and healthy lifestyles. So, what are you waiting for?! Let’s dive in! Hit subscribe now to be notified when new episodes go live. To download our free Respectful Language Printable Cheat Sheet, head to: www.wildlingsforestschool.com/shop/respectful-language

Copyright: © 2023 Raising Wildlings

Latest Episodes:

Powerful Realisations and Choices with The Homeschool Project Nov 30, 2020

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In this episode, we’re talking to Nathan and Anita from the Homeschool Project Podcast to hear their perspective on the most common questions we homeschoolers get asked. How do we manage financially, what type of curriculum should I follow, what made you start homeschooling and the most common question of all, what about socialisation?! A few months ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with Anita and Nathan, hosts of The Homeschool Project Podcast about Forest Schooling, Wildschooling and Unschooling. Today, I now have the pleasure of interviewing the beautiful couple. Anita and Nathan are a military family currently residing in Ohio, USA, and homeschooling their 3 beautiful children. They began their podcast at the start of the year to try and help other families new to homeschooling by sharing ideas on homeschooling and some laughs.

👉 We chat to Anita and Nathan about

Their family and the journey that brought them to where they are today
The Homeschool Project Podcast
The powerful realisation that shifted them to the idea of homeschooling.
Their thoughts on socialisation
Homeschool co-ops
The homeschooling philosophy they follow
The best thing about homeschooling in their eyes
Some of the struggles of homeschooling
How and where their family resets on rough days
What they would change about the education system

👉 Opt In

https://www.wildlingsforestschool.com/free-downloadables

👉 Resources & References

Charlotte Mason Method

https://simplycharlottemason.com/what-is-the-charlotte-mason-method/

Book Recommendations:

Free to Learn- Peter Gray
A Walk in the Woods- Bill Bryson
The Call of the Wild and Free- Ainsley Arment

👉 Guest Details
Anita and Nathan are the hosts of the Homeschool Project Podcast. They are parents to three children (3,6,9) who are all homeschooled as well as a military family. They started their podcast and their website to help others find a community where they can find information, have their questions answered, and be part of a group that is willing to go above and beyond to make sure that we all succeed. Since they made their decision, their family has grown closer and happier. This lifestyle has made them realize that homeschooling is not only about education but it is a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle that allows you to take a step back and see what is really important.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Vicci's Leap to Homeschooling Nov 23, 2020

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Two weeks ago, we had a lot of fun when Vicci interviewed Nicki about her family's unschooling journey. In this episode, we flip the table and Nicki interviews Vicci about her family’s journey. We delve into her story of how they made the decision to homeschool based on their children’s personalities and how, after doing all the research, she took the leap.
This is part four of our series on families that unschool, homeschool, wildschool and world school that will run until the end of the year. Last week we spoke to Lucy AitkenRead about unschooling in a yurt, the school wound and child autonomy. You can head on over and check it out, it’s episode #29.
Wondering if home schooling or unschooling is for you? This series and these stories may help!

👉 Vicci shares

1. What the one thing was that made her decide to homeschool

2. How she communicated her thoughts about homeschooling to her husband

3. How her family manages financially

4. How her children are socialised

5. How she fits in self-care

6. Whether she worries about her children falling behind

👉 Vicci's details

The ocean has always been home for Vicci. Living in South East Queensland has been the perfect backdrop for a life of adventure chasing dolphins and whales on a mission to spread a love for the natural world.

After spending a few years teaching in traditional schools, Vicci's world was soon opened to alternative models of learning, particularly the Forest School philosophy, after the birth of her first daughter. The philosophy embodied many of Vicci's own lifestyle values and seemed to be the perfect blend of world-schooling and wild-schooling.

Vicci's passions and expertise lie in marine education, respectful communication, child empowerment and educational freedom of choice.
Vicci is available as a guest speaker and to run workshops and consultations Australia wide.

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Off-Grid and Unschooling with Lucy AitkenRead Nov 16, 2020

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In this episode we chat to Off-Grid and Unschooling mama and activist, Lucy AitkenRead. We discuss how unschooling allows you to stand back and watch your child bloom and how unschooling your own children can heal your own school wounds. We also chat to Lucy about how to show up as your authentic self in business and her new book 30 Days of Rewilding.

👉 We talk to Lucy about

What made her choose to unschool her kids and if there was any defining moment that made the decision for her, or if it was a slow build?
How choosing alternative lifestyles sometimes feels like we can alienate people when we talk about those choices. We’re actively trying to make sure that we don’t ‘other’ people’s choices making this podcast. We discuss how she incorporates this in her own work.
Her book ‘30 days to Rewilding’
How her children have benefited from the ‘rewilding’ lifestyle

👉 About Lucy AitkenRead
Lucy AitkenRead is a writer, unschooling mama and activist and is here to help you step in to trust, joy and regeneration! She moved her family from South London, UK to a yurt in the middle of nowhere, NZ. They share their off grid farm with another family where they all live without school. Lucy is passionate about supporting people to live compassionately – on earth, with the folks around them AND themselves.
She has spent the last 9 years writing about sustainable living and attachment parenting on her blog and running courses that help people trust themselves with their hopes and dreams including her (Disco course) about unschooling or nurturing a spirituality without religion.

https://lulastic.co.uk/
https://lulastic.co.uk/books-i-have-written/

👉 Free Downloadable

And if you’d like a little inspiration to get your family outside, click here to get our FREE Nature Scavenger Hunt printable.

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Nicki's Journey to Wildschooling Nov 09, 2020

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In this episode, I’m chatting with Nicki about how her family ended up going from a teaching family to an unschooling family with two home businesses. This is part two of our series on families that unschool, homeschool, wildschool and world school that will run until the end of the year. Wondering if home schooling or unschooling is for you? Then this is the episode for you.
👉 Vicci & Nicki Discuss

What the one thing was that made her decide to homeschool
How her family manages financially
Socialisation
How Nicki 'convinced' her husband to homeschool (note: she didn't!)
How she gets self-care time
Whether she worries about her children 'falling behind'
How her children will be prepared for University if they're homeschooling

👉 Nicki's Details

Vicci Oliver and Nicki Farrell are adventurous nature play makers, risk-takers, children’s rights advocates and the co-founders of Wildlings Forest School. We are the hosts of the ‘Raising Wildlings’ podcast and we put the dirt back in childhood.

During any Wildlings Forest School program, you are likely to find Wildlings up trees, sliding down mud slides, whittling with pocket knives, lighting fires and building rafts. We let kids, be kids - because children can’t learn to protect nature if they’ve never had a childhood in it.

Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Linked In
👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour to ask. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Fearless Homeschool with Kelly George Nov 02, 2020

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Kelly is an Aussie who helps parents fall in love with homeschooling via blogging, summits, and courses. She's a wife plus mum of five never-schooled children. With no fixed address, their long-term travel provides endless adventures and ways of connecting with people and the world. Kelly is also the creator of the Fearless Homeschool and the host of the Australian Homeschool Summit, both of which are unbelievable resources for those families who need some support and encouragement when starting your homeschooling journey.
👉 We Ask Kelly…

· How she made the decision to homeschool her five children

· What kinds of sacrifices and life choices they made as a family in order to manage financially

· How Kelly manages her self care time

· What a typical day or week may look like for her family

· What kind of curriculum works best for her family

· How travel has added value to her children’s learning, life views and adventurous spirit

· How her children socialise

Kelly’s Homeschool Courses

👉 Kelly's Details

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

The Art of Whittling with Wildlings Forest School Oct 26, 2020

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Whittling wood is one of the most calming and meditative crafts we do at Forest School. If you’ve ever taught in a classroom, you wouldn’t believe the calm, focus and engagement you’ll find in a whittling circle of usually rambunctious children. It has to be seen to be believed.
In this episode we talk about all things whittling: how to keep children safe when using pocket knives, which knives we recommend, how to take care of your knife, which wood to whittle, what to make and how old children can be to start whittling – the answer might just surprise you.
👉 Discussion Points

The benefits of whittling and children owning a pocket knife
Safety tips to keep children safe when using pocket knives
Technique
Which knives we recommend
Knife care & safe storage
Which wood to use
Projects to whittle
Recommended starting age for children

👉 Purchase Pocket Knives & Whittling Tools Here:

Opinel Wooden Peeler (great intro to whittling tool)
My First Opinel Whittling Pocket Knife (our best seller and the knife we recommend for beginners)
Opinel Classic No.8 Pocket Knife (a classic knife for older, more experienced children or adults)
Alpine Leather Sheath (somewhere safe to keep your knife)
Opinel Secatuers (the only kid proof ones we've ever found! These are virtually unbreakable)
Opinel Folding Saw (a most excellent gift for the gardener - or adventurer in your family)

👉 Listeners Offer
Our Early Bird Offer for our Online Intro to Bush Kindy Course ends midnight Wed 28th October 2020!!
👉 Further Education
Book us for a workshop or consult to train your teachers/educators in the safe use of pocket knives for groups.
👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

Guest Details

Vicci Oliver and Nicki Farrell are adventurous nature play makers, risk-takers, children’s rights advocates and the co-founders of Wildlings Forest School. We are the hosts of the ‘Raising Wildlings’ podcast and we put the dirt back in childhood.

During any Wildlings Forest School program, you are likely to find Wildlings up trees, sliding down mud slides, whittling with pocket knives, lighting fires and building rafts. We let kids, be kids - because children can’t learn to protect nature if they’ve never had a childhood in it.
👉 Listen Here

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

E.25 How to Help Your Child Love Their Body with Jessica Sanders Oct 20, 2020

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In this episode, we get some tips and tools from Social Worker and Author, Jessica Sanders about how we can help our children love their bodies, accept who they are and help process their emotions.

👉 Discussion Points

Jessica’s journey to becoming a social worker, author and advocate
The inspiration for penning her beautiful books, Love Your Body and your most recent release, Be Your Own Man
Jess’s tips for how to help our girls love their bodies and boys to be their own man
What being an advocate for children looks like for Jess, including her work with Worth a Second Chance
The one thing Jess would change about the education system

👉 About Jessica Sanders

Jessica Sanders is an author, advocate and social worker from Melbourne. She is dedicated to empowering others with the tools they need to strengthen the relationship they hold with themselves and their bodies.
Jess has a lot to say about gender equality as a whole and is a passionate advocate for children. Jessica has a long history of working with young people through organisations such as SECASA, The Butterfly Foundation and Jesuit Social Services. In 2019, Jessica wrote her multi award winning children’s book, Love Your Body. To date, Love Your Body has been sold into 29 territories around the world. In November 2019 Jessica released Me Time: the self-care guide to being your own best friend, which is a practical book to support mental health and in September of this year she released her book for boys, Be Your Own Man.
Jess believes the current definition of masculinity is hurting boys and wanted a resource for parents and boys to be able to re-imagine the term for a new generation. , Be Your Own Man which encourages boys to embrace their vulnerability and put their hands up for help.

👉 Jessica Sanders Details

👉 Resources

👉 Free Downloadable

Download your free respectful parenting printable with phrases of validation and empathy here.

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Breaking Down the Barriers to Bush Kindy Oct 15, 2020

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In this episode we break down three of the barriers that often hold centres and educators back from starting a Forest or Bush School program. Bush or Forest Kindy’s are growing in popularity, and for good reason. There are plenty of educators who are almost ready to take the plunge, but there is something holding them back. Well today we are going to discuss three barriers that may be making the process of even thinking about starting an Forest School session entirely too difficult!
👉 Discussion Points

Fear of death/injury/litigation
How do we minimise the risk of missing children
How do we minimise the risk of injury (appropriate clothing)
Lack of personal knowledge

👉 Summary
There are always going to be barriers that make starting a new program challenging. The best thing to do is to make a list of all the things holding you back and then you can systematically go through and find solutions for every single one. And if you would like some extra assistance with this you can always sign up for our Introdcution to Bush Kindy course which is launching ….
👉 Free Downloadable
If you’d like a little inspiration to get your family outside, click here, to get our FREE Nature Scavenger Hunt printable.
👉 Guest Details

Vicci Oliver and Nicki Farrell are adventurous nature play makers, risk-takers, children’s rights advocates and the co-founders of Wildlings Forest School. We are the hosts of the ‘Raising Wildlings’ podcast and we put the dirt back in childhood.

Wildlings aims to get more children outdoors connecting with nature, creating the village parents are yearning for and inspiring change in the education system.

During any Wildlings Forest School program, you are likely to find Wildlings up trees, sliding down mud slides, whittling with pocket knives, lighting fires and building rafts. We let kids, be kids - because children can’t learn to protect nature if they’ve never had a childhood in it.

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

The Voices of Children with Kara Spence from Nature. Be in It Oct 06, 2020

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Today's episode is a little different. Join us as we take a trip to Tasmania, to Nature Be In It, run by the ever passionate, Kara Spence, where we will hear what the children of Howrah Primary School and their educators love about her Forest School programs.
👉 About Nature. Be In It
At Nature. Be in it. we believe nature connection is a deep human need. We take you into nature to meet your need for connection to yourself, each other and the planet. During our expertly guided experiences for your children, corporate team and family you will see the value and need for nature connection to rebuilding resilience, creativity and social and emotional intelligence.
👉 About Kara
Nature connection is in Kara's bloodline. As the daughter of an audacious nature crusader and mad-about-rocks geologist, she understands our dual demands on nature: sustain our souls and support our economy. The trick is achieving both, in harmony and balance.

Born and raised in a Canadian city of millions Kara thrives on all things urban. Cafés and culture - traffic and crowds... To keep her sanity however, she needs time out. To quiet the mind and restore the soul there is no quicker way than to spend time outside in nature.

Kara's career has been defined by one objective: be outside. She followed the warmer climate to Australia, where she could be outside more of the year. She now calls Hobart home.

The sum of her work as a Park Ranger, expert environmental educator and teacher, combined with 15 years training in mindfulness, has inspired Kara to create Nature. Be in it.
👉 Find Kara
Nature. Be In It
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
Email: kara@naturebeinit.com
Resources and References
Original editing done by Helene Thomas of The Wayfinder Mobile Storytelling
👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Let Them Climb Trees! Sep 28, 2020

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Did you spend much of your childhood climbing trees? Did you know that 1 out of 4 Australian children have never climbed a tree and that this quintessential childhood experience is banned in most of our educational settings? In this episode talk about why sharing the view with birds from the branch of a tree is so beneficial for children!

In a 2011 study by Planet Ark on Childhood interaction with nature 1000 parents were surveyed. One of the disturbing findings was that only 20% of children today are engaged in tree climbing. It appears that children just don’t climb trees anymore. This is unsurprising as we have seen the dramatic changing face of our educational settings with things such as soft-fall and height restrictions severely impacting the ability for children to climb anything, let alone a tree.
Benefits of climbing trees:

Focus and concentration
Hand-eye coordination
Problem-solving skills
Self-esteem
Overcoming fears
Trust and team-building
Body confidence
Building physical strength
Setting and achieving goals
Respecting nature

How to support children when they are learning to climb:

Look for easy trees to climb with low hanging branches
Avoid the ‘be careful’ schtick. Offer more meaningful advice such as, ‘Do you feel safe right now?’ or share your observations, ‘That branch is not thicker than your arm, do you think it can support your weight?’
Remind them to check the surface of the ground beneath should they fall and to remove any rocks/sticks below their fall path
Teach them to always have three points of contact at all times
Try not to rescue them. Be their emotional coach instead
Check for dead branches before putting your weight on a branch
Barefoot climbing is safer than with shoes as they have better grip

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE RISK?

It feels like a risky thing to allow our children to do. A survey of over 1600 parents who let their children climb trees revealed that 2% had fallen from a tree and broken a bone, with even less receiving a concussion. The greatest injury was scrapes. Meanwhile 3.5 million American children received medical treatment for injuries sustained during organised sports.
There is risk in everything that our children do. Whilst there is a physical risk of injury, there is a physical risk of our children sitting inside and playing video games, heck there is a risk of children just tripping and falling on the pavement.

Free Downloadable
To grab our free 'What to say during risky play' printable head to wildlingsforestschool.com/free-downloadables.
👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

👉 Listen
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

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