Episode #7. Nature's Classroom: Exploring education through movement and the outdoors with Bianca Hagen
How do you remember your education? Was there much or any ‘green space’ and, if you were lucky enough to have some, was learning in it, part of your school’s timetable?
Some of my fondest memories as a young child were exploring, playing with moss, old walls, water and building things in forests. But this was always outside the school setting.
My guest today, Bianca Hagen, remembered being frustrated in school when she had to sit still and listen for long periods. So, when she had her own children, she decided their education had to incorporate movement, nature and play to do her best to ensure they would thrive into resilient, happy, confident adults.
This journey led her to choose a life path, not only for her own children, but also sharing her knowledge with others’, when she set up a Forest School in Virginia.
Whether you have young children, are a caregiver or grandparent, or even just reflecting on how movement made you feel as a child and wanting to find some of that joy again, Bianca talks about how important both nature and movement are in everyone's lives through the lens of childhood.
I hope this episode challenges your thoughts on traditional education and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Chapters
01:25 Importance of Nature in Education
03:07 The Role of Movement in Education
07:31 Child-Led Learning in Nature
08:02 Expansion of Forest School
09:14 The Importance of Physicality in Education
10:19 Sensory Experience in Nature
14:17 Learning from Children's Movement
16:28 The Need for Movement in Adults
21:45 Connection to Nature and Movement
23:10 Fostering Environmental Connection
28:10 Modeling Movement for Children
29:39 Creating Movement Opportunities at Home
33:44 Movement in City Environments
36:39 Modeling Movement for Teenagers
39:42 Multi-Generational Play
41:32 Counteracting Aging Stereotypes
42:31 The Benefits of Forest Schooling
About this week’s guest:
Bianca Hagen founded Hidden Valley Forest School on her 9 acre property in central Virginia, USA. Hidden Valley was founded in 2022 as a play-based, nature-based preschool for children ages 3 to 5 years old. In the 2024-2025 school year, Hidden Valley will be expanding to include grades Kindergarten through Second grade.
Prior to becoming a forest school founder and teacher, Bianca worked as a renewable energy consultant for fortune 500 companies and as a foreign policy analyst and Portuguese/Spanish linguist for the US government. She pivoted her interests and focus after having children, becoming fascinated about early child development, educational environments that truly allow children to thrive, and natural body movement. When her research pointed in the direction of forest schools in Scandinavia, she became devoted to providing her children with that experience.
After moving to central Virginia, Bianca realized her property was the perfect backdrop to establish a thriving forest school community, extending the many benefits of nature play to other children.
Bianca Hagen is a certified Forest School Teacher through the Forest School Teacher Institute (Levels 1, 2, and 3). She is also CPR certified, and is currently attending an intensive 9-month Wilderness Immersion course at the Living Earth School in Afton, VA, where she gets to deepen her connection with nature, while also exploring more natural body movement opportunities.
Connect here:
Bianca Hagen
Founder, Hidden Valley Forest School
Website: https://hiddenvalleyforestschool.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/@hiddenvalleyforestschool
More about your host, Wendy
Wendy (49) founded Reclaim Movement after a running injury at 40 turned into 4 years of chronic pain. In her search for answers and to reclaim her own movement again she discovered natural movement. The philosophy of training real life practical movements to be able to keep using them as we age, coupled with the benefit of using strengthening and mobilising whole-body movement patterns that are underused in today’s modern world made her realise she had found a way to move for life.
Wendy’s aim is to help people embrace a movement-rich life, at any age, to improve mobility, strength and confidence to keep moving well and doing the things they love for as long as they want.
MovNat Level 1 certified & Functional Range Conditioning certified, she coaches online group classes live & by replay in the Reclaim Movement membership as well as online and in-person private coaching in Oxford.
Find out more about Reclaim Movement:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/reclaim.movement
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@reclaim.movement
Facebook: https://facebook.com/reclaim.movement
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