After spending day one meeting with experts and families to learn about Denmark’s approach to raising babies, The Duchess of Cambridge started day 2 of the visit to the Nordic country at the Stenurten Forest Kindergarten in Copenhagen. Danish Forest Kindergartens rather than focusing on academic skills, use the power of nature and the outdoors to help build children’s self-awareness, strengthen relationships with others and understand their value in society.
The engagement was described as, “The Duchess at a very special place with a lot of happy children.” During the visit to the nursery, The Duchess of Cambridge participated in outdoor activities with the youngsters, who are taught in the open air for part of the year. The Duchess is on a fact-finding visit to Denmark to better understand the country’s world-leading approach to the early year’s development of children and how she can use some findings at her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.
Wearing a white cosy jumper, the 40-years old Catherine was in her moment when she walked around the forest nursery with young children and enjoyed outdoor activities with them including wood chopping. The Duchess of Cambridge has been championing the positive impact of nature and outdoors on our mental health and well-being and spending quality time outdoors can help us grow. We will never forget the lovely Back to Nature garden she designed in 2019.
About yesterday and today’s event, Kensington Palace said, “Yesterday was all about understanding the very earliest stages of a child’s development here in Denmark 🇩🇰. Today we move on to learn about the next stage of their life, focusing on children’s mental health and wellbeing“.
Palace continued, “During her visit to the Forest Kindergarten, The Duchess of Cambridge heard about their approach to learning, which focuses on social and emotional development helping children to build self-awareness, strengthen relationships with others and understand their value in society, rather than focusing on academic skills such as numeracy and literacy. She also learned about the Danish use of nature and the outdoors in these settings, which is widely recognized as having huge benefits on children’s mental health and wellbeing and is a concept which Her Royal Highness has championed through her own work“.
From DailyMail’s report,
Surrounded by children dressed in outdoor onesies, teaching assistant Carla Bro advised Kate on her stance and grip, and, laughing, the duchess struck the wood. Kate took just three blows to split the log and was applauded for her efforts by Ms. Bro, 21, who said afterward: ‘She was very good, she had the right stance with both hands on the hammer and had good focus.
‘She asked how we deal with risky play and how we keep things safe. We have safety rules and we teach the children they should not be afraid of tasks but treat them with respect.’
The duchess knelt down to meet the five and six-year-olds when she first arrived at Stenurten, a combined nursery and kindergarten near Copenhagen, and one little boy made her smile when he shouted out ‘hello Kate’. When one youngster stepped up to split a log, Kate told him ‘you’re so strong as he whacked the wood, and she clapped as he let out a sigh of relief when it finally split.
Kate joined other activities and went on a brief woodland walk with a ‘wing buddy’, which sees a youngster paired with an older child to gain comfort and support. She held the hand of a little girl who also held the hand of Maibritt Iverson, head of Stenurten, and the trio followed pairs of children as they ran into the wooded area.
At the end of the event, a mindfulness session was held to relax the children. The duchess sat with them in a circle around a fire covered by a wood canopy as everyone stared into the flames.
Next, The Duchess will be meeting with Queen Margarethe II and Crown Princess Mary at Amalienborg – The home of the Danish Royal Family. Queen Margarethe II is celebrating her golden jubilee this year while Mary just celebrated her 50th birthday. Then Catherine and Mary will undertake some joint engagements together including a visit to the women’s shelter.
For the day, The country girl at heart, Catherine donned her favorite outfit – a Seeland jacket with a cozy jumper and jeans.
Catherine was wearing her Seeland Woodcock Advanced Women’s Jacket that she first wore Seeland Woodcock advanced Women’s Jacket in April 2021 when she visited County Durham.
The Duchess of Cambridge was wearing H&M Rib Knit Sweater. Thanks to Christine Ross for the id. Catherine paired it with a pair of black jeans.
The Duchess of Cambridge was wearing Madewell Blundstone® Super 550 Chelsea Boots. Thanks to Katie on Twitter for the id.
A look at yesterday’s engagement.
