Enhancing Young Children’s Perceptions of Environment: Evidence from Forest School Experiences

For decades, educators and psychologists have understood that the way children see the world is not just a matter of what they are told, but of what they experience. When a child spends time in a natural setting, they do not merely observe trees and animals; they begin to form a mental map of how those things live, move, and interact. This concept of environmental perception suggests that our relationship with nature is built through direct contact, where the senses gather details that a book or a screen cannot provide. In early childhood, these experiences are particularly powerful, laying the groundwork for how a person will value and protect the natural world later in life. As cities grow and time spent outdoors shrinks, researchers have turned to specific educational models, such as Forest Schools, to see if structured time in the woods can change how young children understand their environment. The core question is simple: does actually being in a forest change the way a child draws and talks about it?

To find the answer, a team of researchers from Usak University in Turkey set out to observe thirty children, aged five and six, attending a public kindergarten in the city of Kutahya. The study was designed to compare two groups of children living in the same community and attending the same school. One group, consisting of fifteen children, spent ten weeks participating in a Forest School program. During this time, they engaged in guided activities in a natural forest environment, learning to explore, observe, and interact with the woods. The other group of fifteen children continued with their standard preschool routine, which took place indoors or in a typical playground setting without the specific forest immersion. The researchers wanted to see if the ten weeks of outdoor experience would leave a visible mark on how the children represented nature.

The method used to uncover these differences was both simple and profound. At the end of the program, every child was asked to draw a picture of a day in the forest. They were not given instructions on what to include, only the freedom to create. Once the drawings were finished, the researchers sat down with each child individually to ask them to describe what they had drawn. This step was crucial. A drawing is a visual language, but it can be open to many interpretations. By listening to the child's own words, the researchers could understand exactly what the child meant by a specific shape or line. For instance, a scribble might look like a mess to an adult, but the child might explain that it represents the wind blowing through the leaves or the roots of a tree hidden underground. This combination of art and story allowed the researchers to see the forest through the children's eyes.

The results of the comparison were striking. The drawings from the children who had spent time in the Forest School program were noticeably more detailed and complex than those from the control group. When the children in the experimental group drew trees, they did not just sketch a trunk and a leafy top. Many of them included the parts of the tree that are usually invisible to the casual observer, such as the branches extending outward and, most significantly, the root systems spreading beneath the soil. In their verbal descriptions, these children spoke of long roots, hidden animals, and the specific ways trees interact with their surroundings. They mentioned seeing bees, birds, and butterflies, and some even described animals hiding under the ground or the way the wind made the leaves move. Their drawings suggested a deep, structural understanding of the forest as a living system where everything has a place and a function.

In contrast, the drawings from the children who did not participate in the forest program tended to be more superficial. Their trees were often depicted as simple shapes with trunks and leaves, focusing on what is easily seen from a distance. While they included familiar elements like the sun or clouds, they rarely ventured into the details of the forest floor or the hidden life beneath the surface. Their narratives often focused on general activities, such as camping or swimming, without the same level of specific observation regarding the natural elements themselves. For example, while both groups drew fire, the children from the Forest School program often included safety measures in their pictures, such as stones surrounding the fire to protect the soil, reflecting lessons they had learned about respecting the environment. The control group's drawings of fire were more generic, lacking these specific ecological details.

The study also revealed how the children perceived their own role within nature. The children who attended the Forest School frequently drew themselves interacting with the forest in a way that showed respect and awareness. They depicted scenes where humans and animals coexisted peacefully, or where they were actively protecting the environment, such as picking up trash or marking dangerous areas. Their stories often included phrases about not disturbing the animals or letting the forest be quiet. This suggests that their time in the woods fostered a sense of connection and responsibility. They saw the forest not just as a backdrop for play, but as a home for other living things that they were part of. The control group, while they also drew people in the forest, tended to focus more on recreational structures like swings or treehouses, treating the forest more as a playground than as a complex ecosystem.

These findings point to a clear conclusion: direct, repeated experience in a natural environment significantly enriches a child's perception of that environment. The ten-week Forest School program did not just give the children a place to play; it gave them a new way of seeing. By engaging with the forest through their senses, they learned to notice the intricate details of the world around them, from the roots of a tree to the behavior of a wild animal. This deeper observation translated into their art and their words, showing a more sophisticated and empathetic understanding of nature. The study suggests that when children are given the opportunity to explore the outdoors in a structured, supportive way, they develop a richer mental model of the natural world, one that includes both the visible beauty and the hidden complexity of the forest.

The implications of this research extend beyond the classroom. It highlights the importance of integrating nature-based learning into early education, not as an optional extra, but as a fundamental part of how children learn to understand their world. The study indicates that the skills developed in the forest—observation, empathy, and ecological awareness—are not just academic concepts but are deeply felt experiences that shape how children express themselves. As the researchers noted, these early connections with nature are likely to influence how these children will behave as adults, potentially fostering a generation that values and protects the environment. The evidence from these drawings and stories offers a quiet but powerful reminder that to truly know nature, one must spend time in it, looking closely and listening carefully.