The value of Nature and outdoor learning in Primary Education?

The value of Nature and outdoor learning in Primary Education?

Nature is becoming an important part of the Primary Education for children. Nature is being used in education in many different ways, it is being used in mindfulness sessions through breathing and hearing activities to help calm and help children mentally, and is also used in basic activities like 

“Making mud pies, digging in the sand, and running through a pile of leaves, or floating leaves and bark in a bucket of water.”
Wilson. R (2012).

Nature has been neglected over the last few years not only in children’s education but in children’s everyday life, there are many reasons for the neglect of nature and outdoor learning in education and everyday life but one reason is the advancement of technology, this has become part of the younger generations everyday life, for example playing video games, social media and mobile phones. This has played an impact in stopping children participating in outdoor activities which has resulted in bad health which is implied by Rosen et al 2014 study on how technology has impacted children’s health, Rosen et al (1998) also backs up this idea when stated:
“child’s lack of physical activity, the use of technology may be a potential cause of poorer health whether that is defined as psychological issues, behavior problems, attention problems, or physical problems. In addition, while it appears that simply using more technology each day may negatively impact children”
Teaching outside and being at one with nature is very beneficial for children in many ways, one of the main benefits of nature and outdoor learning is that it is being beneficial to physical health of children as some parents find it hard to incorporate exercise into their children’s everyday life due to reasons like work and having a busy schedule, however outdoor education gives children that opportunity to be active and exercise instead of having a sedentary lifestyle, this is suggested by Jill. L (2013). Nature in the classroom has also be shown to have be beneficial to cognitive development, it has be implied that children having access to an ‘ outdoor plant rich environments’ will increase the attention span of children when they go back into the classroom Holmes et al (2006). Additionally, children that suffer with disabilities like ADHD have shown positives responses to participating in outdoor education, it was noticed that children with ADHD had shown better concentration skills Van den Berg (2010), and the children showed fewer symptoms after participating in nature within education rather than being taught indoors Taylor f (2004). Children will show social and emotional benefits from Nature as nature has be discovered to expand children’s imagination and gives them the opportunity to run their own learning rather than it be teacher led learning, this is according to NACC (2012) which stated 
“Children should ‘be respected as competent, powerful learners and risk-takers who have a voice in what they create and learn through nature.”
White R (2018) also suggests that having early experiences with nature have be shown to be positively linked to imagination.  Stress is becoming more common in children and that could be for many reasons like social stress, frustration or because they are finding it hard to find ways to relieve social emotion, but Louvs R (2015) implies that being amongst nature can help children relieve stress.  
Outdoor learning has many benefits however it is a challenge for teachers to incorporate outdoor learning into every school day as there are a lot of factors that need to be considered when taking children outside to be taught. One factor is that teachers will have to create and fill out rick assessments which can be very time consuming, also the weather can have a big effect on outdoor learning because if it is too bad then the children will not be able to go outside. 
There may be a few negative aspects of outdoor learning but the benefits of it show how children being with nature and having that connection through education is more beneficial to the children than not being taught through outdoor learning at all. 



































·     Reference list

·      Faber Taylor, A., & Kuo, F. E. (2009). Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park. Journal of Attention Disorders, 12, 402-409.

·      Holmes, R. M., Pellegrini, A. D., & Schmidt, S. L.(2006). The effects of different recess timing regimenson preschoolers’ classroom attention. Early Child Development and Care, 176, 735-743.

·      Jacobi-Vessels, Jill L., 2013. Discovering Nature: The Benefits of Teaching Outside of the Classroom. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 41(3), pp.4–10.


·      Louv, R. (2005). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin

·      Nature Action Collaborative for Children (2012).Principles for Connecting Children with Nature.Retrieved November 26, 2018 fromhttp://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/
initiatives/nature-action-collaborative-for-children/environmental-action-kit/professionalcollaborations/universal-principles/Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Curtin, L. R., Mc

·      Playdalecouk. 2016. Playdale. [Online]. [6 December 2018]. Available from: https://www.playdale.co.uk/mud-kitchens-and-mud-pies/

·      Rosen et al., 2014. Media and technology use predicts ill-being among children, preteens and teenagers independent of the negative health impacts of exercise and eating habits. Computers in Human Behavior, 35, pp.364–375.

·      Van den Berg, A. E. & Van den Berg, C. G. (2010). A comparison of children with ADHD in a natural and built setting. Child: Care, Health, and Development, 37, 430-439.

·      Wilson, R. (2012). Nature and Young Children. London: Routledge.


·      Weil, M. M., & Rosen, L. D. (1998). TechnoStress: Coping with technology @Work @Home @Play. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 

·      White R. 2018. Cardiffmetacuk. [Online]. [6 December 2018]. Available from: https://learn.cardiffmet.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/848539/mod_resource/content/1/Childrens Outdoor Play Learning Environments Returning to Nature.pdf


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