What Makes The Perfect Outdoor Classroom?
Make the most of your outdoor setting! Be inspired to turn your outdoor environment into a fun filled area to help children reach their full potential. A well planned outdoor classroom that is integrated into the school community will become an important part of your school and can be used for every subject, in every season.
Benefits of outdoor learning
Everyone benefits from learning outdoors, especially children. In addition to the educational value of nature-based programming are the health benefits of getting outdoors. Some of the other benefits include:
- Improved mood and happier pupils
- Enhanced appreciation for the outdoors through interaction
- Improved learning experience for tactile and experiential learners
- Improved social skills
- Incorporation of physical activity across various subject areas
- Opportunity to get out the classroom if the school does not have the budget to go on field trips
Your Outdoor Classroom
All classes can be taught outside so make sure you take full advantage when the weather is good! We’ve put together a few ideas that should get you started…
- Get outdoors with music and art! Inspire a new generation of artists by allowing them to draw plants, insects, the sun or whatever they might fancy! Art Easels such as this one will encourage co-operative and collaborative drawing.
- A mud kitchen in the heart of your setting provides children with a wonderful array of learning opportunities. From encouraging creativity and influencing language development, to supporting STEAM learning, messy play had educational relevance across all age groups and curriculum areas. Children will love to mix, mash, blend and sieve materials, whilst developing mathematical, scientific and communication skills.
- Study mini-beast activity through every season! Use our range of magnifiers, tweezers and bug hunters from our living things collection to look at insects up close.
- Set up a treasure hunt in your outdoor area! Separate the children into groups of 3 and have them find and answer individual clues. Encourage them to share their findings with the other groups in order to move onto the next step!
Make the most of your Outdoor Classroom!
Sand and water play provides children with the opportunity to experience enriched messy play activities. Children can extend their mathematical and scientific knowledge by making discoveries through cause and effect, using utensils and exploring different materials.
Take loose parts outdoors with these Loose Parts activity Units. Open-ended, sturdy and versatile, lending themselves to an array of STEAM learning opportunities. A hub for imaginative creations and practical storage solutions. Build on, attach, post, hang things and thread on to the unit. Children can be engineers, designers, builders and artists.
There are so many amazing ways to bring the classroom outdoors. Check out our outdoor classroom collection here!
