Are you looking for practical ways to develop outdoor learning in primary schools while still meeting curriculum objectives and supporting children’s wellbeing?
Outdoor learning can help children move more, communicate more confidently, investigate real ideas and build a meaningful connection with the natural world. It does not need to be a separate subject, an occasional enrichment day or something that only happens in a woodland.
In this episode of The Muddy Puddle Teacher® Podcast, Sarah talks with Aled, who was Specialist Advisor for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills at Natural Resources Wales when the episode was recorded.
The conversation explores outdoor learning, environmental education, nature connection and the support available for teachers who want to make better use of the natural environment.
Listen in to -Aled Hopkins Natural Wales Podcast
What Is Outdoor Learning in a Primary School?
Outdoor learning is purposeful teaching and learning that takes place beyond the classroom.
It can happen in a playground, concrete yard, courtyard, field, garden, local park or community space.
Outdoor learning might include curriculum lessons, practical investigations, fieldwork, physical activity, environmental learning, discussion, creative work and play.
A maths lesson that involves measuring real spaces is outdoor learning.
A science investigation into habitats or seasonal change is outdoor learning.
Storytelling, mapping, poetry, debate, data collection and observing weather can all become meaningful outdoor lessons.
The important question is not simply whether children are outside.
The question is whether being outside strengthens the learning.
For a complete introduction, head to the Beginners’ Guide to Outdoor Learning and for more guidance, try What Is Outdoor Learning?
Why Is Outdoor Learning Important?
Outdoor learning offers children movement, space and direct experience.
Instead of only reading about an idea, children may be able to observe it, touch it, measure it, discuss it or test it.
These real experiences can give pupils something meaningful to speak and write about.
Natural Resources Wales explains that outdoor learning can support academic attainment through practical and experiential learning. Its current resources also highlight the ways natural environments can encourage movement, sensory awareness, balance, physical confidence and personal risk assessment.
Outdoor learning can also help children develop a relationship with their environment.
Children are more likely to care about nature when they have regular opportunities to notice, explore and understand it.
This does not mean every lesson needs to take place outdoors.
It means teachers can consider whether part of an existing lesson would become more meaningful outside.
Read 100 Benefits of Outdoor Learning for Primary Schools for further guidance.
Outdoor Learning Should Not Become a Second Curriculum
Teachers are already responsible for a busy and demanding curriculum.
Outdoor learning should not create another layer of planning.
It should help teachers deliver the curriculum they already have.
English can move outdoors through vocabulary walks, storytelling, drama, poetry, reading trails and spoken rehearsal.
Maths can include measurement, shape, estimation, data collection and practical problem-solving.
Science can involve habitats, plants, materials, forces, weather, light and sound.
Geography can include mapping, fieldwork, local studies and environmental change.
Natural Resources Wales currently provides curriculum-linked resources covering mathematics and numeracy, language and literacy, science and technology, humanities, expressive arts, health and wellbeing, and digital competence.
Teachers do not always need to move the whole lesson outside.
They might introduce the objective indoors, complete the practical experience outside and return inside to record, explain or evaluate the learning.
Explore Teaching Phonics Outdoors for more support.
What Can Teachers Learn from Natural Resources Wales?
Natural Resources Wales provides resources that help educators teach in, about and for the natural environment.
Learning in the environment means using outdoor spaces as places for teaching.
Learning about the environment means developing knowledge of habitats, biodiversity, natural processes and sustainability.
Learning for the environment means helping children understand how they can care for and take responsible action within the world around them.
This creates a broader purpose for outdoor learning.
Children are not only completing an activity outside. They are developing the knowledge, confidence and connection needed to become environmentally aware citizens.
Natural Resources Wales’ current resource collection includes materials linked to sustainability, nature play, climate change, coastlines, green energy, orchards, tool use and many other curriculum areas.
Find more at: Natural Resources Wales Education Resources
What Does Connecting Children with Nature Mean?
Connecting with nature is more than taking children outside.
A class can sit on a field while remaining disconnected from everything around them.
A stronger connection develops when children notice, explore, care, question and return to the same places over time.
They might recognise a tree throughout the seasons, notice plants growing through playground cracks, observe birds visiting the grounds or become familiar with insects living around a planter.
Short, regular outdoor experiences can be more powerful than one elaborate nature day each year.
Natural Resources Wales explains that developing a connection with nature from a young age can help establish healthy, lifelong behaviours. Its wellbeing resources are designed to engage learners across different ages and levels of physical confidence.
This is closely aligned with The Muddy Puddle Teacher® approach.
Teachers begin with the spaces they already have and help children build a genuine relationship with their everyday environment.
Read How can you connect your child with nature?
Do Schools Need a Woodland?
No.
A woodland can provide valuable experiences, but it is not essential for meaningful outdoor learning.
Many schools have concrete playgrounds, courtyards, sports pitches, small yards or limited areas of grass.
These spaces still offer opportunities for:
large-scale maths, chalk diagrams, phonics, storytelling, mapping, weather investigations, measurement, movement, debate, art and environmental observation.
A concrete playground offers scale and clear boundaries.
A school field provides space, distance and opportunities for habitat work.
A courtyard can support sensory vocabulary, water investigations, planting and quiet discussion.
The aim is not to make every school ground resemble a forest.
It is to recognise what each outdoor space can offer.
Explore more ideas: Inspiring Outdoor Spaces for Primary Schools.
Two Simple Outdoor Learning Activities
Map the Natural Features of Your School Grounds
Ask children to explore the school grounds and identify natural features.
They may find grass, trees, weeds, moss, insects, birds, soil, planted areas or small habitats around fences and walls.
Children can create a map showing what they have observed.
Younger pupils might use pictures and symbols.
Older pupils could compare areas, consider why living things are found in particular locations or suggest improvements for wildlife.
This activity can support science, geography, maths, vocabulary and environmental awareness.
Revisit One Changing Place
Choose one small part of the school grounds and return to it regularly.
It might be a tree, planter, hedge, drain, courtyard or patch of grass.
Ask children to observe changes in colour, temperature, sound, weather, wildlife and human activity.
They can compare observations over several weeks or seasons.
This creates opportunities for long-term scientific observation, descriptive language, data collection, art and discussion.
For more teacher-created ideas, direct readers to the KS1 Outdoor Learning Hub, KS2 Outdoor Learning Hub and 60-Day Free Trial.
How Can Outdoor Learning Support Health and Wellbeing?
Outdoor learning can introduce movement and variety into the school day.
Children may walk, carry, reach, balance, lift, dig, build or move between activities while continuing to learn.
Natural Resources Wales highlights that natural environments can encourage children to run, jump, climb, bend, stretch, negotiate uneven surfaces and develop sensory and physical awareness.
Outdoor spaces can also create less pressured opportunities for communication.
Some children speak more freely when walking beside an adult or completing a practical task than when sitting face-to-face indoors.
However, teachers should not assume every child automatically finds being outside calming.
Noise, wind, weather, open spaces and unfamiliar routines may feel difficult for some children.
Clear boundaries, visual guidance, predictable routines and quieter participation options can help make outdoor learning more inclusive.
Explore Outdoor Learning for SEND and Wellbeing.
What Are the Natural Progression Steps?
The original podcast notes signpost listeners to Natural Resources Wales’ Natural Progression steps.
These were described as a tool for explaining how people develop environmental confidence through an increasing connection with nature, regardless of age.
This is important because environmental confidence does not appear after one outdoor lesson.
A child may begin by becoming comfortable in an outdoor space.
They may then start noticing, exploring, asking questions and understanding natural processes.
Over time, they may begin to care for the environment and take responsible action.
Progression is not always determined by age.
An older child with limited outdoor experience may need time to develop confidence.
A younger child who spends substantial time outdoors may already show detailed knowledge and a strong sense of environmental responsibility.
Schools should therefore provide regular and varied experiences rather than relying only on occasional outdoor events.
Outdoor Learning and the Curriculum for Wales
Natural Resources Wales offers resources that support the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales and provide links across curriculum areas.
Its current materials include activities for language and literacy, mathematics and numeracy, science and technology, humanities, expressive arts, health and wellbeing, and digital competence.
The wider principles remain useful for schools throughout the UK.
Outdoor learning can help pupils become curious, capable, healthy, informed and connected to their communities and environments.
Teachers should always link activities to the curriculum and policies relevant to their own nation and setting.
The central message remains the same: the outdoors is not separate from learning.
It is another environment in which meaningful teaching can happen.
Outdoor Learning and Physical Activity
Outdoor learning can make lessons more physically active without turning them into PE.
Children may walk between questions, measure a large area, collect information, carry resources or physically represent an idea.
Natural Resources Wales’ resources describe physical activity as a natural by-product of learning in, about and for the environment.
This fits directly with one of The Muddy Puddle Teacher® principles: More Kids Moving.
Children’s bodies are part of how they learn.
Movement can support attention, communication, memory and engagement.
The goal is not to make every lesson high-energy.
It is to reduce unnecessary sitting and create purposeful opportunities for children to move while learning.
Try these 10 Active Ideas for KS1.
What Is Environmental Education?
Environmental education helps children understand the natural world, how human actions affect it and how they can participate responsibly.
It may include biodiversity, climate, waste, water, energy, habitats, natural resources and sustainability.
However, environmental education should not focus only on environmental problems.
Children also need positive experiences that develop curiosity, hope and agency.
They might improve a habitat, observe wildlife, reduce waste, grow plants, gather environmental data or suggest changes to their school grounds.
Natural Resources Wales provides practical resources designed to support learning about sustainability and the climate and nature emergencies while encouraging positive action.
Outdoor learning helps move environmental education beyond facts on a page.
It gives children direct experiences of the places and systems they are learning about.
Discover more podcasts: KS2 Outdoor Ideas for Primary School Teachers
How Can Teachers Begin?
Begin with one lesson you already teach confidently.
Ask:
What do pupils need to learn?
Would movement, observation, scale, real objects or practical investigation improve this lesson?
Which part should happen outside?
Use a familiar outdoor space and keep the first session short.
Before going outside, explain the purpose, boundaries, working arrangements, stop signal and how the lesson will end.
Afterwards, reflect on what worked and what you would change.
Confidence develops through manageable, repeated experiences.
You do not need to buy specialist equipment before starting.
Chalk, hoops, rope, cones, measuring tools, clipboards and everyday features of the school grounds are often enough.
Begin with the Free Level 1 Outdoor Learning Course or read the Beginner’s Guide to Outdoor Learning.
Listen to Aled from Natural Resources Wales
In this podcast conversation, Aled and Sarah explore the value of outdoor learning and the support available to educators.
The original episode notes include links to Natural Resources Wales’ main learning pages, newsletters, training, outdoor learning campaigns, Natural Progression guidance and downloadable benefits posters.
The episode offers a valuable introduction for teachers who want to understand how outdoor learning connects curriculum teaching, wellbeing, environmental confidence and children’s relationship with nature.
Listen to “Let’s Talk About Outdoor Learning with Aled from Natural Resources Wales”
Continue Your Outdoor Learning Journey
The Muddy Puddle Teacher® helps schools make outdoor learning practical, sustainable and curriculum-linked.
You do not need a forest, expensive equipment or a completely redesigned school ground.
You need a clear learning purpose, a manageable activity and the confidence to begin.
Start with the Free Level 1 Outdoor Learning Course.
Use a 60-Day Free Trial of Silver Membership to explore outdoor learning resources for Nursery, EYFS, KS1, KS2 and SEND.
Choose Gold Membership for flexible online professional-development courses.
Choose Ultimate Membership for the complete training collection and accredited outdoor learning pathway.
Subscribe to the Free Muddy Puddle Teacher® Magazine for weekly practical ideas, CPD and outdoor learning inspiration.
Outdoor Learning in Primary Schools FAQs
What is outdoor learning in primary schools?
Outdoor learning is purposeful teaching and learning that takes place beyond the classroom. It can include curriculum lessons, practical investigations, play, fieldwork, physical activity and environmental education.
What are the benefits of outdoor learning?
Outdoor learning can support practical understanding, physical activity, communication, wellbeing, social development, environmental awareness and children’s connection with nature.
Does a school need a woodland for outdoor learning?
No. Outdoor learning can take place in playgrounds, courtyards, yards, fields, gardens, sports areas and local community spaces.
How does outdoor learning support the curriculum?
The outdoor environment can provide real contexts for English, maths, science, geography, art, design, physical education and personal development. It can be used for whichever part of the lesson benefits from direct experience.
What is the difference between outdoor learning and Forest School?
Outdoor learning is a broad term for purposeful learning beyond the classroom. Forest School is a particular long-term approach with its own principles and practices.
Can outdoor learning support children with SEND?
Yes. Activities should be adapted to individual needs through clear routines, visual instructions, accessible resources, predictable boundaries and flexible participation.
Author
Written by Sarah Seaman BSc, PGCE, MA
Founder of The Muddy Puddle Teacher®, experienced teacher, Bloomsbury author, educational consultant and trainer supporting educators to develop practical, inclusive and sustainable outdoor learning.
