Forest School is a relatively new formal approach to early childhood learning methodologies. We’ve recently explored it’s similarities and differences to other well known alternative modalities, like Montessori and Waldorf aligned education.
But what makes Nature Play Forest School so unique is its inclusion of the established Reggio Emilia methodology. To understand more of this approach, we had a long chat with Isabella Hulme. She’s been one of our longest standing forest school educators here at Nature Play and is also deeply immersed in Reggio Emilia training.
1. What is the Reggio Emilia approach and where does it come from?
The Reggio Emilia approach was born out of post-World War II Italy in the city of Reggio Emilia, which had been quite war-destroyed like much of Northern Italy. In this moment of liberation and rebuilding, the city prioritized children’s education with a unique perspective: “children are citizens of this world too.” The community believed that while rebuilding everything, “one of the most important things to rebuild now is space is for our children.”
2. Why is Reggio Emilia particularly relevant in a South African context?
“Reggio in a South African context feels so important because it’s contextual,” explains Isabella. Unlike other educational approaches that require specific training and materials, Reggio Emilia “is accessible to anybody who wants to use it because it’s transferable and you can map it onto whatever context you come from. It’s not prescriptive.”
The approach uses what you have available, making it practical and adaptable to different environments and resources.
3. How does Reggio Emilia view children?
The approach “centres the child as an agent in the world as having a voice and their own opinion and really as having a life that may be few in years but that it is still a full experience for them.” This represents a fundamental shift in how we think about childhood – moving away from hierarchical adult-child relationships toward more democratic interactions.
4. What does a Reggio-inspired space look like in practice?
In a Reggio infused approach spaces like Forest House belong to the children who use it. Rather than children accessing things through adults in a hierarchical way, “it’s way more lateral in how things are used and in how concepts are invited into the space.”
Isabella tells us that in Reggio-aligned environments, you’ll typically see aesthetic, simple spaces with white walls, plants, and wooden tables – “actually not so full of stuff.” The key difference is in the thoughtful prompts placed in the space each morning, creating opportunities for emergent learning.
5. What is meant by “the environment as the third teacher”?
This core Reggio principle means the physical space itself becomes an active participant in learning. Isabella gives us this example: “when you put open prompts out in the space in the morning, like a feather on the floor, or perhaps even a bucket to catch dripping rain by the gutter, the children will often notice and say ‘oh what’s that?’ And then that becomes the centre of the spiral that we typically start to work outward from.”
The beauty is in the unpredictability.
6. How does Reggio Emilia complement Forest School methodology?
“The two approaches definitely hold hands really nicely.”
The concept of ‘environment as third teacher’ translates powerfully to forest school’s approach to incorporate outdoor settings: “you can take that open ended learning outside and then have the literal environment, the nature around us become the third teacher”. It offers profound development of understanding.
Isabella shares that while Reggio came from an urban Italian context, it’s very nature-based and nature inspired. “When combined with actual forest settings, you allow it to have this foundation of nature-based learning which suddenly takes it to a whole different sphere of engagement.”
7. What fundamental difference does this create for children’s learning?
Instead of limiting children with predetermined frameworks and single-function toys, Reggio embraces the idea that “the child is a hundred languages – a hundred ways of seeing, hearing, touching and of interacting with their world.”
The approach requires adults to hold back from imposing their own perspectives.
“If we don’t leave room as adults to see how the child is seeing or hear how they’re hearing then by default we will limit them in their exploration or understanding of the world.”
This creates space for genuine discovery and an emergent curriculum that follows each child’s authentic interests and investigations.
8. How do facilitators balance open-ended learning with structured outcomes?
Forest House strikes “quite a balance” between emergent learning and planned activities. A typical session might begin with a subtle prompt – “there’s a feather on the mat” – that generates natural excitement and interest. This leads into a pre-planned activity that connects to the children’s curiosity.
“The difference is the facilitators now have insight on how each child naturally wants to engage with the topic. So they can use the prompt as a way to funnel the children into something that then all the children want to do because they’ve built up all this excitement and revealed their own seed of curiosity.”
This approach allows for both spontaneous discovery and structured learning outcomes that parents can track over time.
9. How does the Reggio Emilia and Forest School approach address parental concerns about academic preparation in early years?
The method doesn’t eliminate structured learning outcomes but changes how children reach them. Rather than rigid instruction, this method proposes things and curates activities in a way that everybody’s showing up voluntarily, which allows each child to engage at their own level and pace.
Documentation plays a crucial role here. Isabella tells us that interestingly you get to actually track learning, both for the collective and for the individuals. Parents can see concrete progress over time, understanding “this is three months ago how they were approaching that, and look this is yesterday, look how differently they’re doing that now.”
10. What makes the documentation process so valuable?
Documentation reveals the depth and connection of children’s learning that might otherwise go unnoticed to parents. “Children are tracking code all the time, even their early attempts at writing their name, all those funny squiggles that they think they’re writing, that’s massive evolution for them,” shares Isabella.
Rather than just showing parents “this is what we did today,” individual documentation helps everyone understand the evolution of their learning.
11. How does this philosophy extend to children’s relationship with nature?
When Reggio principles are applied in natural settings, children develop profound environmental awareness. Here Isabella shares the sweetest story, “at Forest House the kids know the snail is just as important as they are. On rainy days they walk around clearing all the snails off the path because they know that they may get stepped on otherwise.”
This creates phenomenal empathetic relating to the natural world that feels revolutionary in reconnecting children with their environment. Simple rituals emerge, like throwing the last bit of tea aside saying “that was for the forest” – showing beautiful reciprocity that children absorb quite naturally.
12. How are different zones used to support varying developmental stages?
The indoor and outdoor spaces serve different purposes. Inside functions as ‘a room of requirements of sort’ – a flexible space where children can access materials for their ideas, whether that’s string and two pieces of A4 paper or to play on the mat with whatever they’ve found. There’s also a designated quiet room where children self-regulate: “I’ve heard kids say, I’m going to be in the quiet room a bit,” shares Isabella. This self-awareness develops when you create intentional spaces – “when you create the pocket for that activity, it speaks back to you.”
13. What are the benefits of multi-age groupings, another aspect of Reggio Emilia?
Rather than holding older children back, multi-age environments help them “step up to being older, and to actually having more responsibility.” Children naturally take on teaching roles: “they love being able to pour the hot water into the jug, because now they’re six. And before you couldn’t do it.
This creates natural mentorship among the kids. While it can sometimes be bossy, this gives the facilitators opportunity to guide this tendency toward kindness and support.
14. What should parents consider before choosing this approach?
“The parents who want an alternative education for their child must also believe in the possibility of an alternative world.”
This approach isn’t compatible with highly traditional expectations – “if you want your kid to come here, but you also want them to live a very structured, linear academics only path, climbing ladders and ticking societal boxes of achievement then you may run into trouble” laughs Isabella.
This method fosters very unique, independent individuals who are less likely to capitulate to what systems expect of them if they don’t feel they align with this expectation.
15. Lastly, why are these skills particularly important for the future?
“In our rapidly changing world, we actually do not know what we’re preparing for,” says Isabella. The skills developed through this approach – “being resilient and problem solving and thinking and taking initiative and having compassion” – are essential capabilities for navigating uncertainty.
As our world becomes increasingly automated, these human capacities for “connection and community and compassion might be the integral skills that set you apart from the movement of everything that technology can just absorb for you.”
