Outdoor learning is a fun way to help children feel closer to nature and their environment.
There is also a growing body of research to show it boosts children’s immunity, physical activity and resilience whilst lowering stress levels.
This is why many schools take advantage of the warmer weather at the end of the summer term and early autumn term to provide children with plenty of outdoor learning opportunities.
Summer months give us perfect opportunities to explore the wonderful world of insects and butterflies and the sounds they make.
You can combine descriptions of sounds with their colours to write short poems or stories or for an outdoor painting class.
In autumn, there are many opportunities for sensory play by scrunching fallen leaves and collecting conkers in their spiky shells to reveal smooth shiny brown conkers.
You can also collect the leaves to identify trees and try to paint all the shades of red, brown, orange and yellow children can see.
Watching flowers and fruit and vegetables grow helps to foster empathy with nature and an understanding of where our food comes from as well as a real-life connection to the earth.
Children can plant seeds and watch their produce grow over the summer and learn about how worms help the soil to be more fertile along with ladybirds and ground beetles and other creatures.
Preparing the soil and planting seeds gives children an immediate connection to the environment and helps them to be future custodians of our planet.
Children’s imaginations are endlessly entertaining which is why it’s so enjoyable allowing them to take the lead when it comes to outside play.
Ask them to collect twigs, leaves, grass and any other natural material lying around to make a fairy house.
The twigs can be used as the structure and the grass for a carpet while the leaves can be used for the roof or a bed and other furniture.
They will also love getting their hands dirty while they collect mud for a mud pie feast to celebrate their fantastic creations.
The activity helps fire their imaginations alongside their artistic and problem-solving abilities.
Many children, even those who live in seaside towns, don’t ever get to visit a beach yet a day trip to the seaside can be life changing.
Taking children out of their environments helps them to see the world with fresh eyes and to experience and appreciate marine life and the simple pleasures of rock pooling, paddling in the sea and building sandcastles.
A day at the seaside also provides great learning opportunities about how old the planet is by examining the geology of the area and searching for fossils.
Children love playing with clay by either building pots using a coil method or by simply kneading it and turning it into shapes and sculptures.
You can combine the activity with collecting natural materials in the playing field like twigs and stones to decorate the clay and imprints of autumn leaves.
For younger children, there is nothing more fascinating and satisfying than creating their own playdough with a cold water recipe.
You can even add corn flour to create so-called cloud dough which takes the texture to a whole other level for sensory play.
If you’d like to provide outdoor activities at your school, Spaceshade canopies are the perfect shelter from the sun and rain.
Our canopies can also be installed with solar panels allowing you to teach schoolchildren about solar energy whilst slashing your energy bills and carbon footprint and providing EV charging for staff.
If you’d like to find out more about our canopies, contact us.