5 Outdoor Learning Activities for Early Childhood Educators
Written by:
Wilson College
• Jun 11, 2025
Allowing young children to play together with a standard set of blocks can teach them important lessons about teamwork and problem-solving. Taking young children to a wooded area to collect sticks of various sizes to build forts can teach them lessons in collaboration and critical thinking — while also providing various sensory experiences and opportunities to experience nature.
As the name suggests, outdoor learning activities are lessons that children participate in outside the classroom. Whether through learning colors by finding them in outdoor items or practicing writing by using sidewalk chalk, activities like these focus on key concepts that mirror those of indoor learning. However, they also offer many research-proven benefits that are associated with the outdoor experience.
Thanks to the value that these activities can provide, they’ve become a focus of programs that prepare students to be early childhood educators, such as the bachelor’s degree in early childhood education .
What Are Outdoor Learning Activities?
Outdoor learning occurs outside the classroom in natural settings. Outdoor learning activities allow students to engage with nature while they take part in the experiential learning of academic and behavioral lessons appropriate for their grade level.
The origins of outdoor learning date back to the early 1900s, when many educators began taking students outdoors to combat outbreaks of tuberculosis. The use of outdoor learning activities saw a resurgence in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced many classes outdoors to curb the spread of the illness.
However, evidence has shown that outdoor learning can provide benefits that extend beyond helping to guard against the proliferation of communicable diseases. As a result, the popularity of outdoor learning has continued, with many early childhood programs incorporating these activities into their curricula. In fact, some programs present all their lessons in forests or other natural surroundings.
How Does Outdoor Learning Benefit Students?
Outdoor learning can help students build their skills and knowledge, improve their overall health, and strengthen their love of learning. Here is a look at the benefits of outdoor learning for students.
Enhancing Knowledge and Skills
Outdoor learning helps students build their academic knowledge and social skills. A 2023 study in Educational Research found that activities in this type of environment foster teamwork, responsibility, and focus. Additionally, according to the study, education for young children that incorporates the play, hands-on learning, and sensory experiences of the outdoors inspires children to focus on the academic lessons at hand.
Improving Health and Fitness
Students who learn outdoors get fresh air, experience new surroundings, and engage in exercise—all of which often lead to better health and fitness. A 2022 Natural Medicine Journal review of research links outdoor learning not only to increased physical activity and improved strength and motor skills but also to a greater sense of social-emotional well-being.
Encouraging Interest in Learning
A 2024 Education Sciences review of research on outdoor learning in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) noted that early childhood is a key part of cognitive and behavioral development, so encouraging an interest in these subjects during that time is critical to students’ future education.
The research also noted that the array of natural resources and opportunities for creative play that outdoor learning activities provide often ignite children’s passion for learning STEAM subjects.
5 Examples of Outdoor Learning Activities in Early Childhood Education
The opportunities to lead young children in outdoor learning are as limitless as the open spaces where those lessons occur. Here are just five of the many examples of outdoor learning activities that teachers can use in early childhood education.
1. Nature Hunt
To learn colors and sensory vocabulary, children can head to nature. Scavenger hunts can lead to the discovery of various items of a certain color or those that have a specific number of legs or that are dry or wet. After completing the hunt, children can discuss the scavenger hunt and describe what they found.
2. Observational Walk
A simple walk in a natural setting can teach young children how to observe their surroundings and show them what habitats animals have. With the aid of tools such as binoculars, magnifying glasses, and sketching materials, they can draw pictures of birds, insects, and squirrels they see.
3. Dramatic Play
The common early childhood educational activity of dramatic play can be effective not only indoors but also outdoors. Children can take materials such as blocks, clothing, and furniture outside, using those items to help them act out career roles (teacher, doctor) or activities (going out to dinner, shopping at a store). In addition to achieving the objective of developing creative, language, and problem-solving skills, this outdoor learning activity also helps children appreciate nature and how its elements can affect their play.
4. Letter Formation
To learn how to identify and create letters of the alphabet, children can rely on items they find in nature. Leaves, sticks, flowers, and rocks, for example, can form letter shapes. Children also can search for items in nature, for example tree branches, that look like different letters.
5. Leaf Pressing
Children can collect leaves or flowers outdoors and then press them by letting them dry between pages of a heavy book. They can look for specific colors or shapes as they conduct their search. When the leaves or flowers dry, they can use them as decoration for various crafts, from picture frames to place mats. This activity encourages creativity and teaches about colors and shapes.
Explore How to Present Outdoor Learning Activities to Young Children
If you’d like to explore approaches to outdoor learning as part of your journey to becoming an early childhood educator, discover the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Early Childhood Education program from Wilson College Online.
You’ll learn key early childhood education concepts and strategies—focusing on topics such as classroom culture, flexible learning , and child development. You’ll study these subjects in an asynchronous program that provides the flexibility to accommodate work and other commitments.
Students in this program also get 12 weeks of student teaching experience in Pennsylvania to help prepare them for their teaching career.
Discover how the Wilson College Online B.A. in Early Childhood Education can help you pursue your professional goals.
Recommended Readings
5 Child Care Careers With a Degree in Education
The Benefits of Extracurricular Activities
What Is the Reggio Emilia Approach in Early Childhood Education?
Sources:
Brightwheel, 20 Educational Outdoor Activities for Preschoolers (Updated for 2025)
Institute for Outdoor Learning, High Quality Outdoor Learning 2025
Verywell Mind, “Thinking Outside the Classroom: The Benefits of Outdoor Learning”
