How to Make Outdoor Learning a Weekly Habit – Blog Preview
How to Make Outdoor Learning a Weekly Habit in Your School
By Educate Outside · Outdoor Learning · Teaching Tips
Most schools go outside occasionally. A Forest School day here, a science walk there. And those sessions are usually brilliant — the children come alive, engagement shoots up, and teachers come back wondering why they don’t do it more often.
Then the following week, the usual pressures take over. Planning time disappears. The routine reasserts itself. And another fortnight goes by without anyone stepping foot outdoors.
The schools that see the real benefits of outdoor learning aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the fanciest equipment. They’re the ones that go outside consistently — every week, all year round. And they manage it because they’ve solved the one thing that stops most schools: the planning.
This post is about how to actually make outdoor learning a weekly habit — not just an occasional treat.
Why Weekly Matters (Not Just Occasionally)
There’s a meaningful difference between outdoor learning as an event and outdoor learning as a routine. When children go outside regularly, the benefits compound. Skills build on each other. Confidence grows. Children develop a genuine, ongoing relationship with the natural world rather than a series of disconnected memories.
Research consistently supports this. Studies have linked regular time in nature to improvements in concentration and attention, reduced stress and anxiety, stronger emotional regulation, and deeper curiosity and motivation to learn. But the keyword is regular.
“Children who spend consistent time outdoors show better academic focus, stronger social skills, and significantly improved wellbeing — compared to those who only access outdoor learning occasionally.”
One outdoor session per term won’t move the needle much. One high-quality outdoor session every week of the school year is a different story entirely. That’s 38 opportunities to build skills, deepen learning, and give children something they increasingly don’t get enough of: meaningful time outside.
Regular outdoor time builds skills, confidence, and a lasting connection with the natural world.
What Outdoor Learning Actually Looks Like (Done Well)
There’s a common misconception that outdoor learning means taking your existing lesson outside and hoping for the best — reading in the playground, doing maths on clipboards in the field. That approach works occasionally, but it’s not really making the most of what the outdoor environment offers.
The most effective outdoor sessions use the outdoors itself as the medium. Children are building, observing, testing, creating, and problem-solving in ways that the classroom genuinely can’t replicate. The environment provides real stimuli — real textures, real weather, real creatures, real materials — that engage children on a different level entirely.
Think of sessions like:
Building structures from natural materials — exploring forces, engineering, and teamwork in the same session
Designing and testing cork boats — real science, real results, real excitement
Nature journaling and observational art — slowing down, looking carefully, and recording the natural world
Crafting wind chimes from sticks and string — combining design, material exploration, and making
These aren’t activities that require specialist training or specialist spaces. They need a patch of outdoor ground, some basic materials, and a clear plan. That last part — a clear plan — is what makes or breaks outdoor learning at scale.
Tree Art — one of 38 weekly sessions in the Educate Outside Scheme of Work. Children collect and arrange natural materials to create artwork inspired by the trees around them.
The Real Barrier: Planning Time
Ask any teacher why they don’t go outside more often and you’ll get the same answer: time. Not motivation — most teachers are genuinely enthusiastic about outdoor learning. But researching activities, adapting them for different ages, printing resources, gathering materials, writing safety notes — it adds up. And it adds up every single week.
This is why good intentions rarely translate into consistent outdoor learning. It’s not a lack of will. It’s a planning problem.
The Three Things That Get in the Way
Starting from scratch each time. Without a ready-made programme, every outdoor session requires building from the ground up. That’s unsustainable alongside everything else teachers are already carrying.
Uncertainty about what’s age-appropriate. What works brilliantly for 6-year-olds won’t land with 10-year-olds. Calibrating activities for different ages takes experience — and most classroom teachers haven’t had the specialist outdoor training to make those calls quickly.
Whole-school inconsistency. Even when individual teachers make outdoor learning work, it’s often patchy across the school. Some classes go out regularly; others barely at all. Without a shared structure, it stays fragmented.
The fix for all three is the same thing: a structured programme that’s already planned, already age-matched, and already ready to pick up and teach.
What a Scheme of Work Changes
A proper outdoor learning scheme of work takes the planning off your plate entirely. Instead of spending Sunday evening trying to find a good activity for Tuesday’s session, you open a session plan and it’s already there — the aim, the activity, the questions to ask, the resources you need, the way to differentiate for different abilities.
That shift — from “I need to plan outdoor learning” to “I need to open the plan and head outside” — is what makes consistency possible.
A good scheme of work also means the whole school moves forward together. Every age group has sessions matched to their developmental stage. Every teacher has the same quality of support. Outdoor learning becomes part of the school’s rhythm rather than a personal project for the enthusiastic few.
What to look for in an outdoor learning scheme of work:
A scheme worth using should cover every age group from early years through upper primary, provide one complete session per week across the school year, include all the printable resources you need, and be written so that any classroom teacher — with no specialist outdoor training — can pick it up and teach it confidently.
Getting Started: A Practical Week-One Plan
Whether you’re starting from scratch or trying to build on what’s already happening in your school, here’s a simple approach to making outdoor learning stick:
1. Block the time first
Before anything else, put outdoor learning in the timetable. Even 45 minutes on a Friday afternoon, every week. The slot matters more than the activity at this stage — without a protected time, it will always get squeezed out.
2. Start with one class or one year group
You don’t need to roll out outdoor learning across the whole school in week one. Pick one class, run it consistently for a half term, and let the momentum (and the enthusiasm from the children) make the case for expanding it.
3. Use a ready-made session — don’t build your own
Your first few outdoor sessions should come from somewhere else, not from your own planning time. Use one of the free sample sessions available online, or pull from a structured scheme. The goal is to experience a good outdoor session — not to prove you can design one from scratch.
4. Keep materials simple
The best outdoor learning sessions use natural materials found on site, basic craft supplies, or simple everyday items. If session prep takes more than 10 minutes, it’s too complicated to sustain every week. Look for sessions explicitly designed to use what you already have.
5. Involve the whole school from the start
Talk to your leadership team about a shared approach. The most effective outdoor learning programmes work school-wide — with every class following a structured progression matched to their age. That consistency makes it manageable, not just for you but for everyone.
A structured outdoor learning programme means every teacher has the same quality of support — and every class goes outside regularly.
The Educate Outside Scheme of Work
The Educate Outside Scheme of Work was built specifically to solve the planning problem. It gives every teacher in your school a complete, ready-to-teach outdoor learning programme — 38 session plans per age group, one for every week of the school year, covering ages 4 to 11.
Every session is fully written. The plan tells you what to do, what to say, what materials you need, and how to adapt it for different learners. All printables are included. Most sessions use simple, everyday materials alongside what you’ll find outside — no specialist equipment required.
It’s not curriculum-linked in the narrow sense. It’s skills-based — building curiosity, confidence, resilience, and a genuine connection to the natural world. Things that matter far beyond any single subject.
Schools using the scheme go from wanting to do outdoor learning every week to actually doing it. The planning is already done. All that’s left is heading outside.
The Bottom Line
Outdoor learning works. The evidence is clear, the enthusiasm from teachers and children is real, and the demand from parents and school leaders is growing. The only thing standing between most schools and a genuine weekly outdoor learning habit is a sustainable plan.
You don’t need a forest. You don’t need specialist training. You don’t need a large budget. You need a structured programme, a protected slot in the timetable, and the confidence to pick it up and go.
The sessions are already planned. The resources are already there. Your outdoor space is already waiting.
Ready to take your class outside every week?
Browse the Educate Outside Scheme of Work — 38 fully planned sessions per age group, for ages 4–11. Pick it up and teach.
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How to Make Outdoor Learning a Weekly Habit in Your School
By Educate Outside · Outdoor Learning · Teaching Tips
Most schools go outside occasionally. A Forest School day here, a science walk there. And those sessions are usually brilliant — the children come alive, engagement shoots up, and teachers come back wondering why they don’t do it more often.
Then the following week, the usual pressures take over. Planning time disappears. The routine reasserts itself. And another fortnight goes by without anyone stepping foot outdoors.
The schools that see the real benefits of outdoor learning aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the fanciest equipment. They’re the ones that go outside consistently — every week, all year round. And they manage it because they’ve solved the one thing that stops most schools: the planning.
This post is about how to actually make outdoor learning a weekly habit — not just an occasional treat.
Why Weekly Matters (Not Just Occasionally)
There’s a meaningful difference between outdoor learning as an event and outdoor learning as a routine. When children go outside regularly, the benefits compound. Skills build on each other. Confidence grows. Children develop a genuine, ongoing relationship with the natural world rather than a series of disconnected memories.
Research consistently supports this. Studies have linked regular time in nature to improvements in concentration and attention, reduced stress and anxiety, stronger emotional regulation, and deeper curiosity and motivation to learn. But the keyword is regular.
One outdoor session per term won’t move the needle much. One high-quality outdoor session every week of the school year is a different story entirely. That’s 38 opportunities to build skills, deepen learning, and give children something they increasingly don’t get enough of: meaningful time outside.
What Outdoor Learning Actually Looks Like (Done Well)
There’s a common misconception that outdoor learning means taking your existing lesson outside and hoping for the best — reading in the playground, doing maths on clipboards in the field. That approach works occasionally, but it’s not really making the most of what the outdoor environment offers.
The most effective outdoor sessions use the outdoors itself as the medium. Children are building, observing, testing, creating, and problem-solving in ways that the classroom genuinely can’t replicate. The environment provides real stimuli — real textures, real weather, real creatures, real materials — that engage children on a different level entirely.
Think of sessions like:
These aren’t activities that require specialist training or specialist spaces. They need a patch of outdoor ground, some basic materials, and a clear plan. That last part — a clear plan — is what makes or breaks outdoor learning at scale.
The Real Barrier: Planning Time
Ask any teacher why they don’t go outside more often and you’ll get the same answer: time. Not motivation — most teachers are genuinely enthusiastic about outdoor learning. But researching activities, adapting them for different ages, printing resources, gathering materials, writing safety notes — it adds up. And it adds up every single week.
This is why good intentions rarely translate into consistent outdoor learning. It’s not a lack of will. It’s a planning problem.
The Three Things That Get in the Way
The fix for all three is the same thing: a structured programme that’s already planned, already age-matched, and already ready to pick up and teach.
What a Scheme of Work Changes
A proper outdoor learning scheme of work takes the planning off your plate entirely. Instead of spending Sunday evening trying to find a good activity for Tuesday’s session, you open a session plan and it’s already there — the aim, the activity, the questions to ask, the resources you need, the way to differentiate for different abilities.
That shift — from “I need to plan outdoor learning” to “I need to open the plan and head outside” — is what makes consistency possible.
A good scheme of work also means the whole school moves forward together. Every age group has sessions matched to their developmental stage. Every teacher has the same quality of support. Outdoor learning becomes part of the school’s rhythm rather than a personal project for the enthusiastic few.
Getting Started: A Practical Week-One Plan
Whether you’re starting from scratch or trying to build on what’s already happening in your school, here’s a simple approach to making outdoor learning stick:
1. Block the time first
Before anything else, put outdoor learning in the timetable. Even 45 minutes on a Friday afternoon, every week. The slot matters more than the activity at this stage — without a protected time, it will always get squeezed out.
2. Start with one class or one year group
You don’t need to roll out outdoor learning across the whole school in week one. Pick one class, run it consistently for a half term, and let the momentum (and the enthusiasm from the children) make the case for expanding it.
3. Use a ready-made session — don’t build your own
Your first few outdoor sessions should come from somewhere else, not from your own planning time. Use one of the free sample sessions available online, or pull from a structured scheme. The goal is to experience a good outdoor session — not to prove you can design one from scratch.
4. Keep materials simple
The best outdoor learning sessions use natural materials found on site, basic craft supplies, or simple everyday items. If session prep takes more than 10 minutes, it’s too complicated to sustain every week. Look for sessions explicitly designed to use what you already have.
5. Involve the whole school from the start
Talk to your leadership team about a shared approach. The most effective outdoor learning programmes work school-wide — with every class following a structured progression matched to their age. That consistency makes it manageable, not just for you but for everyone.
The Educate Outside Scheme of Work
The Educate Outside Scheme of Work was built specifically to solve the planning problem. It gives every teacher in your school a complete, ready-to-teach outdoor learning programme — 38 session plans per age group, one for every week of the school year, covering ages 4 to 11.
Every session is fully written. The plan tells you what to do, what to say, what materials you need, and how to adapt it for different learners. All printables are included. Most sessions use simple, everyday materials alongside what you’ll find outside — no specialist equipment required.
It’s not curriculum-linked in the narrow sense. It’s skills-based — building curiosity, confidence, resilience, and a genuine connection to the natural world. Things that matter far beyond any single subject.
Schools using the scheme go from wanting to do outdoor learning every week to actually doing it. The planning is already done. All that’s left is heading outside.
The Bottom Line
Outdoor learning works. The evidence is clear, the enthusiasm from teachers and children is real, and the demand from parents and school leaders is growing. The only thing standing between most schools and a genuine weekly outdoor learning habit is a sustainable plan.
You don’t need a forest. You don’t need specialist training. You don’t need a large budget. You need a structured programme, a protected slot in the timetable, and the confidence to pick it up and go.
The sessions are already planned. The resources are already there. Your outdoor space is already waiting.
Ready to take your class outside every week?
Browse the Educate Outside Scheme of Work — 38 fully planned sessions per age group, for ages 4–11. Pick it up and teach.
View Lesson Overview Join The SchemeAdam