Young children benefit from learning outdoors. Even so, outdoor time in many early childhood programs is treated as a break or free play rather than a time for planned learning. One reason is training: few teacher education courses show future teachers how to plan and lead lessons outside.
The researcher built outdoor learning into a 12-week college course on teaching literacy at a university in the U.S. Midwest. Eight women training to be early childhood teachers joined hour-long outdoor activities three mornings a week, kept weekly journals, and completed a survey at the end of the course. Because of Covid-19, they practiced the lessons on each other rather than with children.
What they found:
1. They began with little outdoor learning of their own. Most remembered only the occasional field trip or science lesson. One could not recall any.
2. Their confidence grew. Seven of the eight agreed they felt more confident teaching outdoors, and one was neutral. Six said their attitude had changed. Several had never thought about teaching outside before and now planned regular outdoor walks.
3. They plan to use the activities. All eight said they were likely to use them with young children. Some were already using them at work, including with toddlers.
4. They could name clear benefits for children: learning through the senses, hands-on experience with real objects, freedom to explore and be creative, and fresh air.
5. Being outside helped them, too. They wrote that they felt happier, braver, more focused and more like themselves. Listening walks helped them notice campus sounds they had never heard before.
Their main complaints were heat, cold and bees.
If you prepare or mentor early childhood educators, whether in a college course, a workshop or staff training at a nature center, this study offers a ready-made approach:
• Go outside often, not once. These student teachers went out three times a week all semester. Over time, being outdoors began to feel familiar and comfortable.
• Model simple routines. The course suggested setting up a gathering place, a signal to come back (such as a cow bell), outdoor rules just like indoor ones, and having children carry the supplies.
• Debrief every session. After each activity, the group talked about what went well, what could be better and how they felt. Short journal prompts help too, such as “In three words, what was your favorite thing that happened outdoors?”
• Connect outdoor time to core subjects. Here, books were read outside and then linked to activities. Students decorated the first letter of their name with objects they found, drew what they wondered about, and made a book answering the question “Where did the leaf land?”
• Plan for indoors as well. Think about how to extend each outdoor lesson back in the classroom, and have an indoor alternative ready.
• Involve families. Share at-home ideas such as a neighborhood texture walk, a teddy bear picnic, or making up a story about a tiny animal that lives near home.
• Prepare for the weather. The course reminded students that there is no bad weather, only bad clothing.
If you teach young children yourself, these same activities can help you treat outdoor time as real learning, not just recess.
The Bottom Line
Many early childhood teacher training programs leave outdoor teaching out, so new teachers rarely learn how to lead lessons outside. In this study, outdoor learning was built into a college literacy course for a whole semester. Eight student teachers went outside three mornings a week and took part in more than 35 hands-on activities, from listening walks to reading picture books outdoors. By the end, seven of the eight said they felt more confident teaching outdoors. All eight said they were likely to use the activities with young children, and some were already using them at work. The student teachers also said being outside made them feel happier, braver and more focused. For anyone who trains early childhood educators, the study shows that regular, hands-on practice outdoors builds both the know-how and the confidence to take young children outside.