5 Outdoor Lesson Ideas To Inspire

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5 Outdoor Lesson Ideas To Inspire

Taking learning outside can have many benefits for students and can help enhance their understanding of lessons through real-world experiences. Here are five engaging ideas to bring the classroom outdoors this spring:

Art – Playground Art

If you have chosen to study a particular artist this term, encourage the children to emanate the style in chalk on the playground. This will allow them to explore the patterns and style used by the artist, informally.

PE – Animal Yoga

On the field, have a session of animal yoga. Encourage the children to observe nature around them and recreate the movements. They could be birds flying, caterpillars crawling, bees hovering.

You could also teach the children particular yoga moves that also connect to nature. Such as the cat pose.

Geography – Map drawing

Take the children out around your local area and get them to work in teams on producing a map. Discuss safety beforehand and teach them techniques for creating maps.

If it is a challenge to take a field trip. Spend some time recreating a path with some features along it from your forest school area, such as wood stumps, plant pots etc. Develop map drawing skills on a smaller scale instead.

History – Toys from the past

Encourage the children to spend time outside with games or toys from the past. You can teach the children about the differences in how children spent their time at different times in history.

It will also allow you to teach the children lots of new playground games to inspire them at breaktime!

Science – Fossils

Set up an area for the children to be archaeologists! Bury some replica fossils and then get them to dig them up. Use a mixture of sand and soil and allow it to dry first to make the soil a little harder to dig. Encourage them to use brushes to carefully brush away the soil.

An option would be to use plaster of Paris ‘fossils’ as these would be more delicate. The children could experience the excitement of finding fossils and the care required to carefully excavate them.

Conclusion

Take your learning outside more this winter, you’ll be amazed at how many lessons can be adapted for outside. Outdoor learning can enhance retention and be really beneficial for learning new concepts.

Able Canopies Ltd. design, manufacture and install canopies and shade structures at schools, nurseries and educational settings to enable year-round Free Flow Outdoor Play and Outdoor Learning.

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