Outdoor learning is become an increasingly popular subject area that many schools and classrooms are including into their daily or weekly schedule. There are many benefits to outdoor education that many teachers want to take advantage of. Did you know you can have the forest or nature in general be the backdrop for your classroom? Check out our list of ideas to give you a starting point about where to start and how to bring your students into forest school!
1. Colors of Nature
Going on a color hunt is such an excellent way to include the natural environment in your class. Hanging up the students' findings around the classroom will brighten up the room and showcase the students' work in such a great way.
Learn more: Messy Little Monster
2. Threaded Stick Trees
Going on a color hunt is such an excellent way to include the natural environment in your class. Hanging up the students' findings around the classroom will brighten up the room and showcase the students' work in such a great way.
Learn more: Kindling Play and Training
3. Log Craft
If you have logs or sticks on your school grounds, that is an excellent place to start. The adults will chisel and work with these logs or sticks to make certain shapes the students want and then the students will get a chance to paint them however they'd like!
Learn more: Cambridge Forest Schools
4. Water Color Forest
The results of this craft are so beautiful! Using watercolor paints, some cardstock, paintbrushes, and sticks, your children or students can create these beautiful forest scenes themselves. They will learn about color mixing too while working on this.
Learn more: Nurture Store
5. Build a Bug Hotel
Let your students be creative as they take a walk in nature and help out the bugs that live there. Building a bug hotel can spark a conversation or formal lesson about the animal conversation. This discussion will help them make a connection to nature.
Learn more: The School Run
6. Rope Swing
If you know someone who is handy, or if you are handy yourself, you might even be able to install a rope swing or a tire swing in your local forest for your children to swing on and enjoy. The hours of fun will be worth the setup.
Learn more: Early Impact Learning
7. Natural Paint Brushes
You can participate in this activity even if they attend a regular school. They will be so excited to hear that they get to paint with sticks and they will not know what to expect! What an excellent connection with nature. It will take your nature lessons to another level.
Learn more: Early impact Learning
8. Leaf Faces
These leaf faces are adorable! Lots of children can participate in this activity at the same time. Letting them go to collect their very own leaves to use for this assignment will make them that much more excited to participate and craft their own leaf friend.
Learn more: Red Ted Art
9. Leaf Animals
This idea is perfect because they can craft animals that exist or they can make up their own. The learning potential of a project like this is limitless. You can discuss the types of trees that these leaves come from, for example.
Learn more: Wild Forest School
10. Art With Natural Materials
This hands-on, nature-based learning project is an awesome one to mix with your next math class because you can discuss symmetry and mirrors as well. Leaves, flowers, and other natural materials are handy resources that you can definitely use.
Learn more: Nurture Store
11. Make Leaf Crowns
Pinecones, leaves, and cranberry sprigs are just a few of the elements that they can include in their personalized and customized leaf crown. Wildflowers are another example of natural items they can add to these natural headbands. They will wear them all the time.
Learn more: The Practical Forest School
12. Paint with BlackBerries
Did you know that you can make paint using blackberries? Your students probably didn't know that either! Check out this website to find out how you can do this. You can gather berries from your local forest or go on a hike to collect them.
Learn more: Sunny Day Family
13. Carboard Forest
Sometimes the weather does not permit going outside and exploring. In times like this, it helps to have a backup activity ready to go. This cardboard forest theme is perfect for those days that are too rainy or snowy to be outside. They can make their own designs.
Learn more: Artsy Craftsy Mom
14. Nature Scavenger Hunt
You can make your own scavenger hunt checklist sheet or you can find a printable one online. There are a lot of resources for an activity like this. They can look for simple herb plants, native plant species, or even bugs, too! Include this idea in math class.
Learn more: Adventure in a Box
15. Barefoot Safari
If you are bold enough and discuss with the parents of the students first, take them on a barefoot safari. They might enjoy feeling the natural environment beneath their feet. Some of the students could be afraid, but you can reassure them it is all fun!
Learn more: Learning Through Landscapes
16. Bird Beaks
The benefits of this activity include strengthening the students' fine motor skills as they pick up the tiny words as if their fingers were bird beaks. They will transfer the different color words into separate bowls and learn about sorting too! The benefits are great.
Learn more: Pre Kinders
17. Forest-Themed Arts and Crafts
Spreading out the found materials on the table and letting the children have creative freedom is an excellent invitation to learning. Having a crafting center and adding these natural materials to it will give your students an amazing tactile experience as well.
Learn more: Nature's Path
18. Leaf Painting
This creative project is simple but effective. A lot of students enjoy painting and using paint in a variety of ways. This activity can be extended to more than one day if you include a nature walk prior to completing it. It could also get quite messy.
Learn more: Koru Kids
19. Tuff Trays
You can simply set out a tray of found natural materials on its own and let the children explore that tray as they want to. They can take the initiative to explore and feel each piece, build if they want to, smell the items, or do anything else they want.
Learn more: Koru Kids
20. Build a Stick Maze
You can build the stick maze for them or they can build it for themselves. If you have multiple children or a big class, they can build the stick maze for each other and watch their friends run through their creations. This activity would benefit from large sticks.
Learn more: Thimble & Twig
21. Leaf Scavenger Hunt
Your children or students can be super spotters of certain types of leaves. They will learn about which types of trees drop which type of leaves. They will learn to identify them as they go. This colorful worksheet could help as a resource or reference for yourself and them.
Learn more: Downshire Primary School
22. Tree Painting
This idea gets the children right up close with nature with tree painting. After you find a way to stick the paper on the tree, they can paint and follow along with the texture of the tree. Make sure to bring stable paint trays outside with you and a paper towel.
Learn more: Acorn to Oak
23. Tic Tac Toe Rocks
Get back to basics with these all-natural tic tac toe rocks. The children can design them however they'd like and they can have different sets to play with too. These bug designs are adorable. You can bring out a board or use a tree stump like the one pictured.
Learn more: Andrea's Notebook
24. Build a Butterfly Feeder
Building a butterfly feeder is awesome to teach children how to help and save animals in nature. The children can be as creative as they'd like when they are working on this assignment. Check out the link below for some ideas to start with.
Learn more: Outdoor Families Online
25. Build a Bird Box
Building a bird box or bird house is another way to bring students closure to nature. There are premade sets to put together or you can help them construct them from scratch. They will have a blast decorating it and bird-watching afterward.
Learn more: Good to Know
26. Creepy Stick Craft
This project would be especially fitting in October and around Halloween time. This creepy forest stick craft is brought to the next level with scary eyes and bats added to it. Students can pick out exactly which sticks they want to include in their project.
Learn more: Macaroni Kid
27. Den Building
Are you currently learning about animal homes or are going to teach about them soon? Add this hands-on activity to your lesson by having the students build their own dens. They can work in groups, pairs, or individually to do this.
Learn more: Outdoors Group
28. Wooden Necklaces
Make your students into jewelry designers. Make sure to bring string or yarn into the forest with you. You'll need a pair of scissors as well.
Learn more: Little Fish Blog
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