Creating Accessible and Engaging Outdoor Classroom Spaces

Over the past few years our school has worked with United Way to construct an Outdoor Classroom area in the front of our school building. Although the area is now complete and available, I noticed that use had been somewhat limited. As someone who enjoys gardening and nature, and feels it is important for students to experience time in nature, I planned this project to help teachers and students to feel that they could effectively and safely utilize the Dr. Mayo School “Outdoor Classroom” as an extension of the indoor learning environment. After sending out a survey to teachers, the responses I received showed that teachers currently used the space for observation, exploration, and read-alouds, but in limited numbers. Needs were expressed for easily accessible materials in the area, maintenance of the planting beds, and a desire to have an area where students can dig and participate in sensory exploration of the area without disturbing current plantings. After reading a summary of David Sobel’s work regarding children’s “play motifs” in nature, as well as reviewing survey responses, I decided to work toward creating a more engaging Outdoor Classroom by addressing the following areas:

• Creating a “Garden Library” composed of Pre-K appropriate garden- and nature-related books that teachers can choose from. These books will live in the outdoor classroom area in a weather-proof box.
• Assemble and place a small storage shed that was previously purchased by the school in order to hold garden tools and materials previously donated by United Way for the area.
• Establish a “small world play” area utilizing natural materials and loose parts
• Clean out the previous growing season’s dead plants and re-plant the garden beds (both with help from United Way volunteers). The beds planted by my students would be planted with low-maintenance native perennials to make for easy future maintenance, as well as to be beneficial to pollinators.
• Establish a “digging bed” where students can dig, explore, and utilize garden tools without teachers worrying about disruption to the existing plants in the garden beds.

Although parts of the project are not yet complete, I look forward to the future impact that this project will have on my own classes, as well as my entire school community. Fortunately, my students were able to participate in the planting of two garden beds. This planting activity helped bring books and activities that we had previously enjoyed in our regular curriculum to life. Students now often ask to visit the “outdoor classroom.”  Aside from enjoying the space to run, play, and explore, students also love returning to “their plants” to observe how they have grown and changed. They had the opportunity to learn how to safely use basic gardening tools, and are now able to do so responsibly. Seeing the love that this project has already created for plants and nature in this year’s class, I look forward to continuing to develop that love in my future classes, as well as the rest of the students in my school, once all parts of my project are complete and both teachers and students have what they need to bring learning outdoors in a play-based, place-based way more effectively.