5 Awesome Ways To Take Learning Outside

2nd February 2022

Nature – greatest teacher of all.

Outdoor learning can be wonderful to allow children to learn with ease and fun. A place where children can enjoy the freedom to run and play, nature is the most organic habitat for all of us to explore around. By interacting with nature your learners can develop many skills including problem-solving, cooperation, collaboration, self-regulation, and communication.

Many contemporary researchers believethat spending time in nature has generous benefits for young learners. Whatever teachers plan to teach indoors can be taught outdoor too. Teachers with their latest teaching methodologies can easily be embedded in playful activities in Subjects like math, science, language, art. Children are instinctively drawn towards “Play”. It allows them to focus more and thus improves motivation to learn academic skills and abilities.
 

5 Wonderful Ways You Can Bring Learning Outside –

Nature Study

What better place could be than nature to learn about natural phenomena that happen around us. Nature study can be turned into a science study. For instance, you can teach about the life cycle of a butterfly. Kids can find a caterpillar and you can help them to build a habitat to watch it turn into a butterfly. This is a perfect activity to do in the springtime.

Outdoor Journaling

Want kids to self-regulate while they do the outdoor activity! Journal writing has calming effectsin itself which is even better with nature. Plus children are free to write whatever comes to their mind. This could be turned into a literature assignment. You can give them a theme/topic and they can explore that particular idea and translate their thoughts into words.

Gardening

Gardening can be so much nourishing as well as a great way to learn about food – where it comes from and how it grows. The more we create such an opportunity for kids to be involved in life skills, the more they can understand the natural ways of life. Academic learning is not just for concrete subject ideas.

Helping children grow as human beings can provide them with a holistic way of pursuing schooling. Simple activities such as planting seeds, plants, and even watering, weeding, and watching them grow will help kids develop patience and also give them the scope to learn about the hard work it requires to grow food which is essential for human life.

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunt never gets old. This particular activity is not just fun it allows children to act as a team and also helps them to reflect healthy competition. Teachers can also promote collaboration and interaction to help kids develop their social skills. Not to mention, scavenger hunts also require critical thinking since puzzle-solving is the majority part of it. Additionally, you can incorporate new vocabulary for them to expand their English language skill.

Physical Education

With enough space outside, your learners can spread their wings do some physical activity. Exercise like hula hoop can be a fun activity. Both individuals, as well as team work, can be incorporated with this. For example, the teacher can line up multiple hula hoops and let kids hop into the middle with both feet. It can help children to build their gross-motor coordination skills.

Final Thoughts

With all that is happening around us, now is a great time for schools to focus on holistic learning. outdoor activities are one way to embed nature and play together organically. It is time that children interact with an educational system that creates passivity, a sense of community, and the opportunity to interact with the surrounding environment.

And this calls for the teacher to get equipped with the latest teaching methodologies, as learning is a lifelong process, educators too need to constantly improve their skillset. With pre and primary teachers' training courses teachers can develop their comfort level to manage shifts and changes that happen in the field.