Outdoor Classroom Day is a global movement to inspire and celebrate outdoor play and learning, at home and at school. On Outdoor Classroom Day itself, which has two dates each year, teachers celebrate with a special day outdoors for their class.
Children are spending less time outdoors than ever before and this is affecting their health, wellbeing and development.
Outdoor learning can be so easily incorporated into so many different areas. To make outdoor learning experiences effective, teachers should design activities that meet curriculum aims. Science courses might contain experiencing experiments in the natural environment, which will lead to insights about ecosystems and environmental science. Map reading and walks can be used to provide these geography lessons.
Art projects can be nature-inspired, requiring students to make art out of natural materials. These practice are more than the reinforcement of the traditional curricula; it is an expression of creativity and self-developed art.
Read this article How Outdoor Learning Works Around the World to see what is happening in other education systems. The weather in Australia certainly is conducive to getting outdoors and most schools have a playground or nearby park or beach to explore, but it is getting close to the end of the academic year and teachers will say that there is too much to do at the moment, so perhaps the date in May is a better time to celebrate. The Australian Curriculum has a rationale for why Outdoor Education is must.
A study in the UK found:
I have a Pinterest page devoted to Outdoor Education, one on trees, another on stones and rocks, and yet another on sticks. These will show you a number of books that you could connect to outdoor classrooms, or you could try some of these:
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