German Kindergarteners Answering Call of the Wild

If you’ve ever wished you could play outside all day, running through forests and playing in the mud until the sun went down you just may be fascinated to learn that there are kindergarten schools in Germany that now eschew classrooms in favor of the forest floor, and head outside to learn all day, come rain or shine.

And while schools and parents in some countries push their kids to read, write, and surf the Web earlier and earlier in an effort to sharpen their skills for an increasingly competitive global economy; these kids get to sing songs, build fires, roll around in the mud and kick back in their “wald sofa” of tree stumps and twigs.

All told it seems there are about 700 Waldkindergarten, or “forest kindergartens” throughout Germany, with kids discovering the world in a different fashion.

Intriguingly, there’s a tiny high school in the woods of Northeastern America, inspired by Thoreau, that’s taken a similar approach with kids who might otherwise have dropped out or found themselves in trouble of one form or another.

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Via: WSJ