We’ve heard it time and time again – kids who spend more time outside in nature are healthier, happier, and more fit. Most schools though are a direct contradiction to this. Kids spend hours and hours sitting at desks and outdoor play time is cut shorter each year.

Farley Nursery School in Wiltshire allows kids to spend much of their day outside instead of cooped up inside at desks. Children are encouraged to head outside, rain, shine, snow, kids are outside playing, planting, growing, investigating and exploring. This not only allows kids to gain an awareness of and respect for the environment but preps them for a healthier lifestyle overall.

According to an article in the Times Online, Farley School, “Classrooms are invariably empty and the children spend all day, every day, outdoors – even the babies, who, at six months, entertain themselves in the sandpit or, when it is time for a nap, fall asleep gazing up at the sky in a series of sturdy Silver Cross prams parked in the courtyard.”

It looks like there’s still prepared lessons going on – i.e. a math and science instructor comes in and there are also music, singing and dance sessions and French, so it’s not quite unschooling which is what another article about the school notes, but it’s better than regualr school in my opinion.

My own son went to an eco charter and now goes to a free school. At both schools kids spend as much time outside as they like and you see less fighting among the kids, less “hyper’ kids, and a more chill atmosphere overall.

Take a look at the Times article about the Farley school and see what you think.

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