What is 'After-School Forest,' a small after-school space you can start from just two days a week?

I operate a small-scale private after-school care program called 'Small Forest After-School' in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture.
I am the representative, Erika Tokura.

This is a small after-school space that you can start from about two days a week.
We are launching a new initiative called [After-School Forest]!

'I want to create a place for children in my community.'
'I want to use my skills to help the children in my community.'
'I run a tutoring class, but I want to be more involved outside of lesson hours.'
I started this initiative because I want to increase the number of places for children in the community together with people who share these thoughts.

So, why did we start this initiative?
Please let me tell you a little bit about Small Forest After-School.

We want to fully support children's 'likes!'

We opened our first location, the 'Mikunigaoka No. 1 School,' in the summer of 2021.

We started this after-school program with the desire to create a place where children can truly do what they love!
We basically never prepare a curriculum.
Daily activities are decided through 'strategy meetings' led by the children themselves.
'I want to make this today!'
'I want to do this at the park!'
'I want to try an event like this!'
Voices like these fly around every day, and the staff sometimes work behind the scenes, and sometimes enjoy themselves even more than the children, as we create this space together ☺️

Please check out our activities on Instagram!

Honestly, I think it's hard to understand what kind of after-school program this is.
It's like a cozy after-school program where people say, 'I'm not really sure what they do there.'
We've even had rumors like that (laughs).
But thankfully, the number of users has gradually increased through word of mouth,
and we opened our second school in 2024 and our third in 2025.
Currently, about 280 children use our services.

What we value

Places where you can fully engage in what you love might actually be rare.
But finding what you love,
gaining the power to realize what you want to try,
and sometimes cooperating with friends and adults, and sometimes clashing with them, to bring things to life.
We believe that accumulating such experiences fosters a spirit of inquiry and curiosity,
and leads to the ability to plan and achieve things.

Also, after-school care is a 'second home.'
It might be a presumptuous way to put it, but
we are raising children together with their families.
We interact with them every day from that perspective.

However, there are still few places like this.

At first glance, it seems like they exist, but
- Small groups
- Being able to fully face a child's 'likes!'
- After-school hours where adults can also seriously walk alongside them
Actually, there are still not many places like that.
Of course, there are several reasons for this, but one of them is the 'high hurdle to starting.'
Until now,
'I want to create a place like Small Forest After-School.'
'I want to create a place in the community that supports parents and children.'
We have received many such consultations.
On the other hand, many people stop at the point where they think,
'I want to try it, but starting an after-school program as a business is a high hurdle.'
(Until now, we have provided support through opening assistance and franchises, etc.)
So we thought.

Couldn't we start even smaller?

Instead of suddenly opening a full-scale private after-school care program,
we wanted to start a space for children
in a smaller, more community-rooted way.
Born from that desire is'After-School Forest'.

What is After-School Forest?

It is a small after-school space that local adults can start from about two days a week.

We highly recommend this for people who...

• Want to spend plenty of time engaging with each child individually

• Want to create a community-rooted space for children

• Already run a lesson-based class and want to value the time outside of lessons as well

• Are already involved in activities for children, such as children's cafeterias or free schools, and are looking for new activities

• Think that after-school care sounds fun!!!

What exactly do you do?

We will share 'know-how on creating a child-centered space'
and 'know-how on building an after-school care environment'
from the Small Forest After-School Care.

As long as you strictly follow the operational policy of a 'child-centered space,' you are free to do anything else ☺️
You can freely decide on activity hours, frequency (*at least twice a week), the scale of the number of children, and fees.
And let's share practical examples among everyone who becomes an After-School Forest base!

5. Support content from Small Forest After-School Care

• Childcare training

• Safety management manuals and operations

• Support for methods of handling parents, etc.

• Practical know-how on child-centered approaches and case sharing

• Nationwide Community Building

Additionally, for those who want to turn this into a business, we will also provide lectures on how to create a business plan.

'I want to increase the number of places for children in the community.'
I would be happy to meet people who want to help shape that vision together.

I couldn't fit all the details about the new 'After-School Forest' initiative into this note...
We will introduce the details at an online event on Thursday, August 20th, from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

Since this is our first time undertaking this initiative, we also plan to recruit initial monitors.

If you are even a little bit interested,
please join us!✨

Click here to apply