Teaching outdoors can be a fantastic experience for both teachers and children alike. There’s something about escaping the indoor space which can spark creativity, curiosity and a new love of learning, so sometimes swapping the indoor classroom for an outdoor classroom can transform how pupils learn. For imaginative headteachers, building outdoor classrooms can provide extra teaching space and somewhere new for children to explore the subjects which spark their imaginations.
If you’re looking for outdoor classroom ideas, here are just a few which your students might enjoy.
The garden classroom
Outdoor classrooms are that wonderful space between the indoors and the natural world, allowing for year-round teaching outside. That makes them perfectly suited to becoming garden classrooms, which can be an ideal way to teach children about biology, nature and plants. For younger kids, that might mean potting up easy to grow salad crops or fruit and vegetables, so they can learn about where their food comes from and watch its life cycle from seed to table.
For older children, harder to grow flowering plants can be a good option, as you can also teach them about plant biology, natural selection and a range of other connected topics. Either way, a garden classroom may benefit children’s mental health, as being surrounded by greenery has been shown to have a positive impact on mood and concentration.
An outdoor classroom for messier activities
As children learn through play, you might want them to engage in some fun activities, but without creating a mess in the classroom. An outdoor classroom enables you to set up things such as sandpits or paddling pools and water baths without messing up your more formal teaching space.
This means you can keep your inside space free for desk-based lessons and you can switch between the two without having to clean up. It’s easier to open the doors of an outdoor classroom and sweep it down than it is to clean up an indoor classroom, so you can allow children a messier playtime with much less hassle.
The arts and crafts space
Outdoor classrooms are ideally suited to becoming an arts and crafts space, where children can draw inspiration from the world around them. Activities such as painting and collage can get messy, and you might prefer them to take place outdoors rather than in the main classroom. Much outdoor classroom architecture is designed around large windows and glass ceilings, so you could get children to paint or sketch the views they can see.
For older children, outdoor classrooms can be a good place to experiment in larger art forms, such as sculpture, or take on bigger craft projects which take up more room. Whatever age group you are teaching, there’s something very inspirational about getting out into a classroom with so much light and space.
The wet playtime shelter
Living in the UK, there are always going to be days when it’s too miserable to send kids outdoors during their breaks and lunch hour. That’s where outdoor classrooms become a real life-saver. Children can enjoy more space to move around, play and socialise, without being entirely confined to the indoor classroom, or making a mess of your formal teaching space.
Outdoor classrooms can act as that bridge on rainy days, half indoors and half outdoors, while offering shelter from the elements when it’s just too wet to send them outside.
The storytime space for younger children
If you’re teaching a class still of an age where they enjoy storytime, then where better to do it than in an outdoor classroom? Storytime is supposed to spark imagination and be really special, and there’s no more special a place in a school than an outdoor classroom.
Storytime in an outdoor classroom gives children the change of scene they need to engage in the more ‘fun’ side of learning. It’s an opportunity for them to escape the confines of the more formal indoor classroom and really immerse themselves in the joy of a good book, so spread mats and cushions on the floor and settle in for a very different storytime!
A classroom for climate change
Climate change is something which children of all ages are becoming more concerned about, but particularly older age groups. There’s something very fitting about discussing greenhouse gas emissions in an outdoor classroom, so you could turn yours into a climate change hub and set up displays to help with lessons on the subject.
As more and more teachers are planning lessons around the topic of climate change and the natural world, this bridge space with the outdoors becomes the perfect setting to talk about the environment, wildlife and the planet as a whole. Even if you teach in an urban school with little greenery around you, simply being out under the open sky can inspire children to engage in the subject of climate change.
The events space
As any teacher knows, there’s always some special event coming up in the calendar. Whether it’s the Christmas play and party or the summer fair, outdoor classrooms are the ideal space for hosting an occasion and inviting all the parents in. Outdoor classrooms can be constructed as small or as large as you want them to be, giving you more flexibility when it comes to holding events on-site.
Outdoor classrooms are also very easy to jazz up because you can stick posters or other materials to the glass and quickly take them down again, an option that is seldom available to you in your indoor rooms.
Overall, outdoor classrooms are an incredibly versatile space, giving you the extra room you need all year round and whatever the weather. Shelter Solutions can create customised outdoor classrooms at cost-effective prices for your school, seeing you get the classroom or maypole shelter you need. If you’re bursting with outdoor classroom ideas and want to get started, then we’re ready to help.
To find out more about outdoor classroom architecture and the options available to you, simply get in touch with our expert design team today.