There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge)

by Linda Åkeson McGurk

To teach students—princesses included—how to take care of the environment, Swedish forest schools have a special tool at their disposal. His name is Mulle (pronounced moo-le), and with his shaggy moss-green hair topped by a cone-shaped hat made of birch bark, he looks like a subtler, more domesticated version of a good luck troll. Mulle, or Skogsmulle (Forest Mulle), is a symbol of outdoor ethics and is generally recognized as the father of outdoor education for children across the country. (The closest American equivalent might be Smokey Bear, who educates the public about forest fires.) Conceived in the 1950s by Gösta Frohm, who at the time was the director of the Swedish Outdoor Association, Mulle uses stories, songs, and games to teach children about nature and how to take care of it. “Mulle is a pedagogical tool that we use,” says Kajsa Källström, the manager of Mulleborg. “The children read books about him and they know that it’s somebody that dresses up as him. Mulle almost has a Santa Claus effect; he triggers their imagination.”