Objectives This study aims to analyze research trends related to domestic forest experiences in order to inform future development and research directions.
 Methods For this purpose, RISS was searched using a combination of keywords related to ‘experience’ and ‘forest’, and 158 articles were selected, and the number by year, journal & researcher analysis, word cloud analysis, keyword frequency analysis, NTA, and cluster analysis were conducted.
 Results Key findings are as follows. The number of relevant articles increased overall, but 1~2 researchers dominated the domestic research, with a significant proportion of publications in early childhood education journals. In the keyword analysis, the research subject was fragmented over time, but overall, “infant” was dominant, and the initially dominant “attitude toward nature” was decreasing, while “ability”, “emotion” were increasing. In the NTA analysis by period, “infant”, “experience” were dominant overall, with “ability” increasing and “attitude” decreasing. The cluster analysis showed different characteristics by period, with three groups in the period 1(2001-2014), three groups in the period 2(2015-2016), and two groups in the period 3(2017-2022). In particular, there was a clustering of ability studies on infants in the period 2, and studies linking infants, activities, and abilities in the period 3.
 Conclusions The main conclusions and recommendations are as follows. Although the number of papers is increasing, the number of researchers and research topics needs to be more diverse, and the content of the research needs to be more evenly diversified in terms of forest experience effects, usefulness, and attitudes. In addition, research subjects should be expanded to adolescents, adults, professionals. Also, research that reflects social phenomena is lacking, the needs of the times(technology, safety, forest complex management) should be reflected. As the domestic academia needs a balanced approach, it is necessary to analyze research trends in the field of early childhood education and analyze detailed topics. In addition, the analysis of various foreign forest experience trends and reflective studies based on a more rigorous concept of experiential learning, are requested.