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May 30 - June 2, 2025
claims that boredom is key to achieving better balance within yourself, regardless of age.
“When your child comes to you and says he’s so ‘booored,’ give him a hug and tell him, ‘Good luck, my friend! I look forward to seeing what you get up to.’”
If you can help children love nature, they will take care of nature, because you cherish things you love. —MULLE
“Us humans are a part of nature and we have a need to be in nature. I think this need will grow with the global development. We need to be in nature on a regular basis to achieve balance and harmony. In the long run, we can’t deny that we are biological organisms.”
In Sweden, nature conservation, which involves making sure children “acquire a caring attitude to nature and the environment,” is considered so important that it’s one of the main tenets of the national curriculum for the preschool. On top of making sure that children have an opportunity to play in natural environments, the preschool is tasked with helping them understand how they can contribute to a better environment, both now and in the future.
Come spring, the children at Nora’s preschool also start to visit their “school forest,” about a fifteen-minute walk from the preschool, on a more regular basis. School forests are sections of woods that can be used by schools and preschools for outdoor play and environmental education, and in Sweden there are over one thousand of them. The concept was developed in the 1980s as a collaboration between private landowners and schools to increase children’s knowledge of forests and the forestry industry. Typically, the agreement with the landowner allows the school to alter the environment beyond
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“If you do not know the names of things, the knowledge of them is lost, too,” he famously wrote.
The concept of teaching students outside of the classroom is called udeskole, or “outdoor school” in Danish,
“That’s my lake!” Julia lives right by the water not too far from the street where I grew up, and I know exactly what she means. Children in Sweden have a deep sense that nature belongs to them and they belong in nature, a feeling that follows them into adulthood.
Many thinkers in the children-and-nature movement believe that in order to develop this type of affinity for nature, children need to engage with it hands-on, using all their senses. And when they do, they don’t always comply with the leading American outdoor code of ethics: Leave No Trace. Leave No Trace was originally developed as a guide for recreating responsibly in the backcountry and has been crucial to protecting heavily used and particularly vulnerable areas from getting loved to death. But when the principles are interpreted literally and applied indiscriminately, they also have some
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He says that collecting natural objects can foster play and creativity as well as knowledge about the outdoors. In one study, he showed that over 80 percent of college students had collected items like rocks, shells, or insects, or foraged for food in nature when they were younger, and that the collectors in the group perceived themselves as more connected to nature than the noncollectors. Collecting is technically a violation of Leave No Trace, which says that you should “leave what you find” in nature, but Beery believes that it can be done responsibly and lead to a dialogue about
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Beery, who has taught Leave No Trace in the US, thinks having an outdoor code of ethics is a good thing, but he also believes that it needs to allow children more freedom in their interactions with nature. “Of course if we’re talking about an endangered species that has a very fragile habitat, that’s a place where we don’t play. There are places where we don’t build our forts. That’s a given. But I think we’ve started overusing the idea of Leave No Trace in the context of children’s play spaces in nearby nature.”
he found that although there is some initial damage from the children’s activities—mostly loss of soil and ground cover, and some harm to trees—it plateaus after the first couple of years. As he had suspected, the areas very much remain functioning ecosystems. He also noticed that in Sweden adults didn’t seem to be all that concerned about children’s rampages through the woods. “There is not this ‘leave no trace’ mentality here,” he says, and adds that the US code of ethics is misunderstood. “Leave No Trace is really about promoting land ethics. It’s not saying that you should never, ever have
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“I think it’s very important for children to feel joy in nature,” she says. “We want them to have positive memories from this, and hopefully later they will become interested in protecting it.”
Most days, the children and teachers spend their entire day in the nearby forest, where the children themselves have come up with names for some of the most popular spots: Blueberry Mountain, Sunny Hill, and Silja Line. Naming their favorite spots is not the only way they take ownership of these places.
There are about forty-five thousand residents, eight forest schools, and countless forts on the island of Lidingö, making it a hub for this type of early childhood education in Sweden. It all started in the 1980s, when two outdoorsy preschool teachers dreamed of immersing children in nature and educating them about the environment on a daily basis.
“When you spend time in nature you learn to understand and take care of nature,” says Susanne Drougge, a self-proclaimed entrepreneur and cofounder of Mulleborg. “It’s almost impossible not to. You automatically create an interest in nature and the environment, without preaching to the children.”
The premise behind the forest school philosophy was simple: Stimulate children’s physical, cognitive, and social development by spending as much time as possible in nature, every day, all year-round. At forest school, nature becomes a classroom with no walls, where children learn through self-directed play by using their whole bodies and all of their senses, in an environment that nurtures their curiosity and strengthens their self-esteem. In the process, the thinking goes, they will become responsible stewards of the land.
The opening of Mulleborg, which translates to “Fort of Mulle,” had a ripple effect, and today there are more than two hundred forest schools in Sweden and thousands more internationally, sometimes under names like nature kindergarten, nature-based preschool, outdoor school, forest kindergarten, Waldkindergarten, and bush school. Outside of Scandinavia, forest schools are particularly popular in the UK and Germany, but interest is also growing considerably in Japan, Australia, Canada, and the US.
“[Forest schools] use a pedagogy that I think is very sound, especially when it comes to their attitude toward nature.” Because only in Scandinavia is playing with sticks, eating your lunch under a piece of tarp, and pooping in a hole in the woods considered a life fit for a princess.
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.)
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By the Swedish Outdoor Association’s accounting, as many as two million children have at some point been educated by this raggedy forest troll either by going to a forest school or joining one of the association’s many nature groups for children, so-called Skogsmulle schools. It’s hard to overestimate the influence of Mulle on outdoor education in Sweden, and the phenomenon has spread internationally, to Norway, Finland, Latvia, Russia, the UK, and Germany. In Japan, he’s led the upswing of outdoor education and almost garnered a cult following as more than five hundred Japanese educators have
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“If you can help children love nature, they will take care of nature, because you cherish things you love.”
“Mulle teaches children to care about nature and how to see the difference between different plants and animals,” she says. “We need this today more than ever. We need adults who still have one foot in nature, who understand how nature works. We can’t go on using up all our resources without giving anything back to the planet. With Mulle, this comes automatically, without preaching. You just create an interest in nature and the environment.”
The best way to raise an eco-conscious child is to be an eco-conscious parent. Live by the principle of the three R’s—reduce, reuse, recycle—and involve your child in the process. Talk about how your personal choices can impact the environment and look for opportunities to make a difference—for example, by volunteering for cleanup days at a nearby park, using public transit or riding your bike instead of taking the car, and shopping for organic, locally grown food.
I’m not surprised. Messy, wild play is seen as a perfectly natural, even cherished part of childhood in Scandinavia, and the way I was raised, muddy hands, piles of filthy clothes, and wet boots were almost considered badges of honor, a testament to a day filled with adventure, new experiences, and lots of trial and error. The adult me has a slightly more complex relationship with messes. I wouldn’t exactly call myself a neat freak, but I like my house orderly and clean, and my kitchen counter free of clutter, craft glitter, and traces of homemade salt dough. Outside, however, it’s a different
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“I think jumping in puddles is part of childhood,” another mom tells me. “It’s also a form of risk assessment. ‘How much can I splash around before I get wet?’”
that all children enrolled in its forest schools have a right to “become dirty, stay active and be inspired by nature,” Although the forest schools blazed a trail for messy play, these ideas are now embraced by more traditional day cares and schools as well. Swedish veteran preschool teacher and author Ann Granberg sums it up well when she writes that “too much order and cleanliness hampers play. Children must be allowed to get muddy, get in the water with their clothes on, make a mess and be rowdy; they should be spontaneous, improvise and do things that are not thought-through.”
In reality, our modern, sanitized lifestyle has wiped out a lot of beneficial microbes in our gut that help us stay healthy. Being exposed to certain microbes in the womb and early childhood can actually strengthen our immune systems and protect us from illnesses later on. When the immune system is not challenged enough, it might start looking for stuff to do, like overreacting to things that are not really dangerous, like pollen and peanuts. This is believed to cause allergies, asthma, eczema, childhood diabetes, and inflammation later in life.
The researchers were surprised to find that the children in the poorer, dirtier, and less developed East were less likely to suffer from asthma and allergies than the children in the more affluent and sanitary West. More recently, studies have found that Amish children have remarkably low rates of asthma and allergies. The reason? Likely what European scientists call the “farm effect.” Breathing in the microbes found in manure from cattle and other farm animals every day is beneficial to the immune system and could explain why only 7.2 percent of the Amish children in one study had an
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Mycobacterium vaccae, seems to have the ability to trigger our serotonin production, effectively making us happier and more relaxed. M. vaccae occurs naturally in soil and water, and is inhaled or ingested when we come in contact with dirt. Our exposure to mycobacteria has decreased considerably due to sanitation and water treatment in Western urban areas, but by regularly playing outside or helping out with a backyard garden, children can still get in contact with it.
“Gardeners inhale these bacteria while digging in the soil, but they also encounter M. vaccae in their vegetables or when soil enters a cut in their skin,” Matthews told Therapeutic Landscapes Network after the results from the study were published. “From our study we can say that it is definitely good to be outdoors—it’s good to have contact with these organisms. It is interesting to speculate that creating learning environments in schools that include time in the outdoors where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks.”
“It turns out that all the things that are messy and dirty in the world, the very things we thought we needed to control or even eliminate to stay alive, are actually the very elements necessary for robust health,” she writes. “Bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi play a critical role in developing and maintaining a healthy gut and immune system. Playing outside, digging for worms, planting vegetables, and essentially coming into contact with plenty of dirt and livestock are actually good things. Not just good—essential.”
Exposure to microbes is not the only way children can benefit from messy play in nature—it’s also the ultimate sensory experience. Walking barefoot across a log, sinking your hands into a pile of mud, listening to the birds singing, and feeling raindrops land on your forehead are all stimulating to children’s senses. This is important because good sensory integration—i.e., our ability to process and organize the information that we get through our senses—means that our body and brain are functioning at their optimal level.
“Mud gives you tactile input. The extra bonus is that when you’re digging and carrying heavy buckets, you’re getting proprioceptive input in your joints and muscles and that overrides the feeling of light touch, which feels yucky to some children. With practice and repetition, they’re going to be able to tolerate getting muddy.”
In nature, you can hear the birds sing and figure out where your body is in space. Also, it’s going to be more calming, even though you’re in an alert state. Calm but alert is actually the perfect state for sensory integration to happen.”
“I learned that the kind of dirty that you get in forest school isn’t the kind of dirty that really bothers me,” she says. “This is the kind of dirty that you earn when you’re out exploring and learning and challenging yourself. That’s different from the kind of dirty caused by neglect or apathy or not knowing better. And it’s a kind of dirty I’m willing to encourage. As an adult, you must have the judgment to know which one of the two kinds of dirty you’re seeing on your child, and ultimately the children will learn to tell the difference too.”
Support your child’s gut health by feeding her natural probiotics like kefir, yogurt, and fermented vegetables. The more diverse our gut flora is, the better able it is to support important bodily functions, like the immune system and digestion.
According to parents here, no weather conditions are so bad and no mud puddle so big that they can’t be conquered with some good coveralls, waterproof mittens, and a pair of fleece-lined muck boots. The idea that it is good for children to play outside in all types of weather—assuming that they have proper gear—is pretty unique to the Nordic countries, and it applies to adults too. Ask a Scandinavian, “Why would you want your child to go outside when it rains?” and she’ll likely respond, “Why not?”
“What’s so special about Sweden is that we have a long-standing agreement that it’s good for children to be outside, regardless of the weather, so that’s not something teachers need to discuss with the parents,” says Eva Kätting, director of studies for the master’s program in outdoor environmental education and outdoor life at Linköping University.
“Even if I think it sucks that it’s raining, I don’t want to convey that feeling to my children, because it’s more harmful to sit inside than to be outside in the rain. I don’t have a problem with them getting dirty either, either at home or at preschool. When the preschool says that they go outside every day, rain or shine, I think it’s great.”
My hiking boots sink down in the wet, muddy ground as I walk past the old tree and back into the forest. It feels different in the rain. Gloomier, but also more serene. Before I turn around and go home, I stop and listen to a small stream from a freshwater spring trickle through the trees. My feet are damp, but my mind is still. Silently embraced by the forest, I am alert, contented, calm. This, I think to myself, is what it feels like to be truly alive.
Scandinavian Parenting Tip #5 Try to embrace the weather for what it is, and let your child run wild and get dirty while playing outdoors. If possible, reserve a spot in the backyard where your child is allowed to dig in the dirt or create a simple “mud kitchen” with some old pots, pans, cups, and other kitchen utensils. If the dirt on your child’s hands and clothes bothers you, remember that in general the problem isn’t that kids today are too dirty but that they are too clean.
Suggested reading: Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World, by B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Clai...
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In preschool, learning to stay within eyesight of the teachers in the forest, a place where there are no man-made boundaries, fosters both independence and self-control. Instead of being confined by a fence, the children learn to adhere to natural borders, like a fallen log, a creek, a steep hill, and so on. Of all children, none seem more apt at mastering their environment than the children who go to nature-based preschools.
“I’m a fierce believer in children’s ability to pull on their boots and go outside on their own,” says Fredrika Mårtensson, the environmental psychologist who conducted the study. “There’s an enormous difference between walking and getting a ride somewhere. I believe you have to let transportation take its time in order to gain appreciation for the way the world works. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a scenic walk. Nature is everywhere when you’re outside, even just the wind blowing in your face.”
They had two things going for them: little traffic and a high level of what researchers call “social trust,” which is generally defined as “a belief in the honesty, integrity and reliability of others,” according to Pew Research Center. In communities with a high level of social trust, children are generally given greater independence and mobility. “Having social trust means that if problems arise, we trust that we solve them together, as a community. In places where the attitude is that everyone minds their own business, children have less mobility,” says Mårtensson, the environmental
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But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the most dangerous place for a child to be is neither the playground nor the woods. It’s in a car, as motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of death among the more than twelve thousand American children who die due to unintentional injury every year (followed by drowning, the majority of the time in the family pool).
Research also shows that three-quarters of all American parents worry that their children will get abducted, despite the fact that violent crime against children has been decreasing steadily since the 1990s and the risk of being kidnapped and killed by a stranger is so minimal—around 0.00007 percent, or one in 1.4 million annually—that experts call it effectively zero. And in a vast majority of sex abuse cases against children, the perpetrator is somebody close to the victim—a family member, relative, or acquaintance—and not a stranger off the street.
According to David Eberhard, chief psychiatrist at the emergency psychiatric ward in Stockholm, our brains have a tendency to overestimate two types of events that may occur to our children: those that have disastrous consequences and those that are out of our control. Both types encompass kidnapping. No matter how extremely rare it is, our brains are simply not that good at judging this type of risk. And fear is a powerful thing. When stories about child abductions lead the evening news, it is easy to believe that the same thing is going to happen to your child.
