When entering a forest school environment the Flora and Fauna form your learning environment. It is essential that you have a good knowledge and understanding of the Flora and Fauna around you. This knowledge is essential for a number of reasons:
Health and Safety: As highlighted in the Flora and Fauna Health and Safety Section (Click Here to Visit), being able to identify flora and fauna that could cause potential harm to your clients is essential. As a forest school practitioner you have responsibility for their health and well being.
Imparting Knowledge: As a Forest School Practitioner you are and educator and as such it is important to teach the children about the Flora and Fauna. This will hopefully help children understand the importance of protecting it, identifying safe flora and fauna themselves and develop a love for the woodland environment.
Scaffolding Learning: A knowledge of the properties of different flora and fauna is also important when scaffolding different learning activities. For example knowing not to give children a knotty piece of larch to begin with or choosing leaves that are safe to handle when building a shelter.