Making Outdoor Learning Part of Everyday Primary School Life

Outdoor learning often starts with one enthusiastic teacher; they’ve got the ideas, they’ve found the resources and they’re the person encouraging everyone else to give it a go.

The problem? If outdoor learning relies on that one person finding the time and energy to keep it going, it can quickly become another good intention that fizzles out.

For outdoor learning to become part of school life, it needs to be easy to repeat.

Start with small routines

You don’t need a complicated outdoor learning timetable. Instead, think about small activities that can become familiar parts of the week.

You could try:

• A weekly outdoor vocabulary walk – choose a topic and spend twenty minutes collecting interesting words from the playground or school grounds
• Outdoor reading reward time – celebrate a great week with ten minutes of reading outside
• Nature jobs for class monitors – checking bird feeders, noticing seasonal changes or helping to care for planted areas
• A seasonal observation board – add pupils’ drawings and observations as your school grounds change through the year
• Playground praise points – recognise curiosity, teamwork and care for the environment alongside academic achievement

Make it bigger than one classroom

A few simple whole-school systems can make outdoor learning much easier for everyone.

• Create a shared bank of outdoor learning prompts that teachers can pick up and use
• Ask year groups to save successful activities rather than starting from scratch each term
• Celebrate eco or nature ambassadors for the contribution they make
• Use outdoor learning display boards to share what pupils across the school are noticing, investigating and discovering

This kind of approach can also sit naturally alongside wider sustainability work.

The Department for Education’s climate action guidance¹ encourages schools to take a whole-setting approach, with climate action shaped around their own context and priorities. Biodiversity and nature, alongside climate education and green skills, are among the four key areas schools are encouraged to consider.

This doesn’t have to mean launching another huge initiative. It might begin with pupils getting to know one tree, looking after one patch of the playground, noticing how the seasons change, or simply spending more time learning in and caring about the outdoor space they already have.

Turn good intentions into everyday habits

At PTS, we’re big believers in making good ideas easier to put into practice. From ready-to-use pupil rewards to practical classroom resources, we can help you recognise your nature explorers, celebrate your eco ambassadors and build outdoor learning into routines that last.

Outdoor learning works best when it stops feeling like a special event and simply becomes part of what your school does.

¹ Source: Department for Education, Sustainability leadership and climate action plans in education (updated October 2025).