The Norwegian concept of ‘free air living’, or friluftsliv, has been helping people in the country keep physically and mentally healthy for centuries, and has become a requirement for early years practice. In the midst of a pandemic, might it work in the UK too?
The term was coined by writer Henrik Ibsen in 1859 and has been part of a national tradition of spending time outdoors in nature and the wilderness ever since.
Henrik Neegaard, assistant professor in the faculty of education and international studies at Oslo Metropolitan University, explains, ‘If you ask 1,000 Norwegians what friluftsliv is, you will get 1,000 different answers. It could be anything, from simply going for a walk to climbing a mountain.
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