Little Urban Forest, Taman Bukit Desa

As someone who has always appreciated the bounties of nature, Chloe Khor, founder of Little Urban Forest (LUF), felt that something was missing from our own local early education system. “Our young ones do not have enough appreciation, or knowledge, for that matter, about our naturally breathtaking outdoors and all it has to offer. In sharp contrast to this, in fact, today, there seems to be an obsession in attaining an almost fully germ-free environment, something I know for certain will not contribute to a healthy, thriving immune system for our young ones. Today’s overly cushioned lifestyle, I feel, does very little for children’s awareness about our true, natural environment and its benefits” she stated to us at Kiddy123, catching our attention at once.

After being involved in the mainstream early education industry for years, Chloe was convinced that the usual half an hour or so of outdoor time for students isn’t nearly enough for little ones to get to know and appreciate all that nature has to offer, nevermind the fact that most of the time, the outdoors is only made up of playground equipment, with little or no elements of actual nature, e.i. plants, animals, insects, etc. She decided to look into forest schooling, which is an early education concept that is popular in Europe, particularly in the Scandavanian countries.

By establishing LUF, Chloe is actually the first to set up an urban play-based and place-based forest school with sustainability learning in Kuala Lumpur, which we know is sure to bring joy and awe to little ones between the ages of 2-6 years old! The unique, forest-concept preschool has a 80-student capacity. It features four open air classrooms with a full view of the beautiful, oversized garden spanning six thousand square feet. The school also has an al-fresco dining area as well as a lounge area for parents. Its outdoor facilities include a little farm, adventure playground, a Hobbit house, sandpit, animal hub, fish pond and workshop. There is also an outdoor shower and toilet area.

This outdoor-based space is rich in greenery, simulating a little jungle, and, the potential for learning is literally, countless! Kids get to know a whole lot about the basics of nature as well as useful life skills that they get to learn hands-on, giving them a whole new level of appreciation of precious life resources, while building a sense of respect for nature, as well as learning to care for our planet.

A Childhood Built on Nature

Open to little ones between the ages of 2-6, the morning session here at LUF is a nature-based educational experience held outdoors with teaching approaches of the Forest School Pedagogy. Lessons in the outdoors include life skills, permaculture, sustainability, mindfulness as well as ethics and values. During this time, the children have the freedom to play, discover themselves and also create games through a full-on forest schooling experience. The low ratio of child to teacher and assistant teachers ensures that they are looked after.

After a good long outdoor play, they will have lunch at noon and move on to indoor learning time. This gives children an opportunity to cool down and express what they discovered that morning through drawing, painting, sculpting, storytelling, role-playing and music. An hour of academic learning is provided for children aged 5 - 6 years in the afternoon after lunch between 1pm - 2pm to prepare them for formal schooling.   

Among the stand-out points of LUF are the weekly Survival Skill Programme and bi-weekly outdoor excursion. This class, which is part of the curriculum itself, is facilitated by an outdoor specialist to help kids prepare for their outing in a natural environment and to instil in them the necessary skills that they will need for a memorable experience. Another curriculum component at LUF that is hardly found elsewhere is the Mindfulness & Reflections sessions, where the children discuss the goings-on of the day. When asked why this also a lesson at LUF, Chloe replied that feeding information to children about the moral of a story is good, but talking about the good that they have done in the day (helped a friend, etc,) is even better for they have experienced it themselves and will be better able to appreciate the lesson.