Today’s Wall Street Journal had a story about Germany’s Waldkindergartens (“forest kindergartens”) where children spend their days out in forests … year round. Among the nature-based activities? How to handle a real saw.

The Journal says:

“The schools are a throwback to Friedrich Fröbel, the German educator who opened the world’s first kindergarten, or ‘children’s garden,’ more than 150 years ago. Mr. Fröbel counseled that young children should play in nature, cordoned off from too many numbers and letters.”

Imagine what Frobel would think about “too many numbers and letters” in our Internet age.

Aside from a couple of scrapes and bruises (and a higher risk for tick bites), there are references to research studies that indicate these “forest mice” are less aggressive and appear to get sick less often in the fresh-air settings.

I must say, the concept is refreshing amidst the headlines about childhood obesity. It reminds me a great deal of the book Last Child in the Woods, whose premise is that kids are so connected to video games and the Internet that they’ve lost their connection to the natural world.

What do you think? Does traditional kindergarten provide an advantage? Would you enroll your tot in a forest kindergarten?