Browsing by Author "Sanaksenaho, Henna"

The purpose of this master's thesis is to get acquainted with the child-forest relationship and the factors influencing it. This research takes a closer look at children's forest relations, children's personal forest experiences and children's thoughts and expectations about the forest. The subject of the study is also the social or forest cultural features in the construction of children's forest relations. Studies have shown that the forest relationship is built mainly on the basis of relevant forest experiences. Children's environmental education is also of great importance. This thesis is a qualitative study in which a phenomenological-hermeneutic perspective has been used in the analysis of the research data; content analysis was constructed through an understanding of an individual’s experiences. For this research, I interviewed six sixth graders, with whom I also visited the children’s nearby forest where they photographed interesting and beautiful objects in the forest. In the interviews, I used photos of different forests to support the discussion. The key point was to look at what materials children’s personal experiences are built from and what they meant ultimately for the development of a child’s forest relationship. Children’s meaningful forest experiences with family and friends increase appreciation and respect for the forest. Children involved in the study use the forest mainly for functional reasons, as well as to calm down to counteract the everyday fuss. Children’s forest relationship has received impressive ingredients from societal expectations and meanings. The reflection on the future highlighted the desire to protect the forest as well as the economic aspect. Based on the research findings, it is possible to state that the opportunities to go to the forest enabled by important people and the positive forest experiences encountered there strengthen the children's relationship with the forest. In addition, societal expectations for the forest became part of children’s thinking.