Learning Through Outdoor Play

The outdoors provides children with a healthy release for the quieter activities of the classroom. Being outside allows children to stretch their muscles, breathe in fresh air, and enjoy the freedom of space.

The outdoor environment is seen as an extension of the indoor classroom. The types of learning (cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical) that take place indoors also take place outdoors. The outdoors offers children learning experiences unique to that environment. Children can watch plants grow, follow the change of the seasons, or see snow melt. Science becomes alive when nature can be observed firsthand. The outdoors is an environment in which children use all their senses to learn; they can see leaves change color, taste rainwater falling, touch the bark of a tree, hear crickets chirp, and smell the air after a rain shower.

Stages of Outdoor Play:

• Exploration


• Experimentation