Pre school that's outside 24/7 in all weathers?!

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Long, drawn out post. Sorry.

I've been looking at a very leafy pre school option for DD.

The kids looked amazingly happy and all focused on what they were doing - climbing around small trees?! Playing with a toy digger that picks up bark. Playing in sand and mud. Painting outside. The owner seems very passionate that this type of free range outdoors environment is great for them.

She then went onto say they only really use the building (it's like a cold school dinner hall) for lunch times and 1-1 or small group activities. But those are very short activities and it isn't really used if the weather is bad.

I made a joke and said 'oh not if it's that bad though haha'. She said no, we are outside pretty much 24/7

How can this be? Surely heavy rain and freezing temps would mean you'd want to be inside?

The changing unit and toilets are also outside! In a little out house thing that resembles more of a shed

The ground facilities look amazing and the children would have access to feed chickens. They have a few acres

She said many parents actually choose to keep their DC here if they're not nearing 5 come school age, because this is what's best for small children - nature and play

Surely she's having me on that they can't be outside all that time?

I will add that I visited it 4 years ago with my son but he thankfully got a special needs school in time (profound disabilities).

DD is diagnosed as autistic and is semi verbal (few words out of context) but very sweet and likes interaction and praise so would probably suit this for now

It's in a very small village in Central Bedfordshire if anyone's local and might know what I'm on about?

Sorry, forgot to say, when I went to see it with my son the kids looked so happy - That was in the Summertime though where you'd think spending a lot of time outside is pleasant

Not freezing cold and wet rain

Is it a forest school? I think some of them do have the kids outdoors all day in most weather.

Not to be a massive nerd, but she obviously was wrong to say 24/7... surely they don't open overnight and 7 days a week 🤓 🤓 🤓

I can't get onboard with these outdoor schools - the poor little mites must be freezing! 😓

It is a forest school, yes sorry. I always get confused about this wording because my son has forest school sessions at his SN school, and I remove my baby brother doing 'forest school' but they're sessions and just an hour or so outside in woodlands on a Thursday, something like that

I am a bit shocked to see there are actually places outside all the time

Yes lots of forest schools are outdoors in all weathers.

The expectation is that appropriate clothing is provided. Puddlesuits and wellies and so on.

Presumably the children don't all die of the cold and happily return so where is the issue?

Lots of forest schools are outside all/most of the time. Some don't even have a building to go to. Small children are more weather resistant than adults so they don't seem to mind! It wouldn't be my idea of fun though.

Yes, I get that - But I'd be really cold after being in the wet and cold for an hour or so. I'm just confused because surely it must be unpleasant when it drops to a certain temp?

Got to be honest, I just don't get the fuss for this sort of thing. My 3 year old is very outdoorsy and is happiest at the beach or in the woods. His nursery go on one trip out every week, and spend every afternoon in the garden until home time.

But the mornings are for indoor play where they play with dough, paint pictures, have story time together on the carpet, prepare snack and eat together, build dens, play with all the wonderful resources etc. They still have a huge amount of time outdoors and then when I pick him up we are usually still out for an hour, taking the long route home with his scooter or going to the park.

It's nice for the children to enjoy indoor activities too.

Friend of mine runs a nursery along these lines. They have a wooden lodge but really only use it for cooking. They are outside all the time. They have appropriate clothing for the kids, they play outside, explore, grow and harvest food, get the kids involved in cooking, teach them to light fires. It's endless. And brilliant. They all hang out together too with the babies being carried in slings and involved with the bigger ones or crawling around getting filthy but learning.

If her nursery had been around when my dc were the right she I would have signed them right up.

If you have decent clothing cold is not a problem.

I used to ski and that was all day out in the cold. Great fun. (Except at lunchtime when crammed into a restaurant eating plates of chips as the only veggie option and gluhwein)

I also used to do a lot of walking and again if you have decent waterproofs and thermals you don't get cold or very wet.

I always wonder about heat as much as cold.

Much easier to bundle a kid up against the cold that keep them cool and sun protected in the midday summer heat.

I like to be in for a couple of hours to potter when the day is at its hottest, I can only imagine a massive stint outside in midsummer would absolutely wipe out my nearly-3 year old!

True. And what happens if it's snowing? Or icy? Children surely need to come into warmth for a while and I remember as a child being freezing when it snowed or was nearing 0! Despite snow suits my mum made me wear

My DS goes to forest pre-school. We wrap him up when the weather is bad and if it's cold they either have a hot chocolate from the kitchen or they light a campfire outside if it's not raining.

He loves it, we all do

Sounds great! Assuming you’re in the UK no weather here is ever really that severe. And if it’s normal practice for this place they will be well experienced at getting children properly kitted out to be outdoors comfortably.

We're in Wales so plenty of beaches, woodland. Children thrive if they can be outside as much as possible. My grandchildren are out in wetsuits most of the year. Otherwise wrapped up and tramping around the area.

My eldest would have loved this. I'd imagine it's healthier for the DCs and I bet they come home with less illnesses.

We have a full outdoors nursery near our school and your can always spot the Reception children who have been there - really good at putting jackets on, really resilient and never off sick!!!!

My dc went to a nursery like this and it was wonderful. They really do dress them appropriately and they are much happier outside than in. Obviously, they aren’t outside literally all the time! If the weather is truly poor, they will be in the main building, but obviously you visited in summer.

The only thing I would check is changing facilities in the winter. Outside toilets are fine, but I would want to make sure that the changing area is heated in winter. My guess is that it’s not in the ‘shed’ all year round. At our nursery, they would just change them in a quiet place on the grass (obviously on a mat) in the summer, like you would if you took your baby to the park. But clearly they wouldn’t do that in January (they would change them inside the building).

Mine absolutely loved it though. The sad sterile nurseries we looked at with just some astroturf were depressing. I’d much rather they be out in the mud.

I think there's a happy medium here. My kids would have hated being outdoors for 6 hours straight of cold rain, and it sounds utterly miserable to me.

I was lucky to find a nursery that had a lot of outdoor areas and owned the adjoining meadow and woods. They had chickens, grew their own fruit and veg, and the kids spent a lot of time in the woods. But they also had a full indoor set up which was used extensively.

Our daughter goes to an outdoor nursery in Sweden, the only time they eat indoors is during rain so their food doesn’t get wet. Children only get cold and wet if you choose to dress them poorly.

I don't see the need for kids to be fully 'free range' - they're not chickens.

Surely they also need to learn how to behave inside? Eating inside, quiet time, indoor toys and not charging round the whole time?

Plus how to they manage regular changing of nappies and taking kids to the toilet if they're wearing 50 layers of clothing and are outside getting filthy all day? It sounds like a right faff.

A balance is needed I think!

I'm in Finland, my son's nursery had a forest school class that would be out all day (eating outside too) including winter when it snowed. They probably had a low temperature limit around -20 as that's the usual limit for outdoor play round here. Sadly the class wasn't running full time when my son was in it but small groups would do a day out there once a week. Children cope far far better with colder weather than we do, so long as they are properly dressed (just a snowsuit might not be enough if the layers underneath aren't warm enough and especially if the footwear isn't good enough or warm enough gloves

How do they manage looking at books or painting or drawing if it's wet? How do they manage anything using hands and fingers if it's very cold? Do they have naptime out of doors in the rain?

Like pp, I can see that part of every day out of doors is beneficial, but not all day every day.