Ode to Outdoor Education

I always love the return to school after winter break. There is something about the cold air, the excited energy and the huge puddles that remind me of my elementary school days. I have been inspired by many of the local school that have opened their “doors” to students by creating outdoor education spaces. Driving past my elementary school, I see masked students exploring nature, learning about the weather and enjoying socially distanced time with their teachers and friends. The teachers and students have had their share of outdoor learning challenges including smoke, lightning storms and high winds but each time it is safe for school to open again I see the resilient children back to work.

When I attended this same elementary school years ago, some of my fondest memories are those which occurred in the outdoor space. Whether it was in kindergarten, being excited you could finally reach the lowest branch on the tree so you could climb no higher than a teacher’s reach. Or in 2nd grade pretending to be horses and racing through the trails in the woods, timing yourself to go faster and faster. Finally, up to 5th grade finding secret trees to carve your crushes initials in. The woods allowed and encouraged every stage of development.

Beyond the woods, there was everyone’s favorite outdoor spot. Lake Leak. Lake Leak only exists when the Pacific Northwest experiences a large rainstorm (which is quite often). When Lake Leak came into play, the whole play space shifted. Everyone was working for a common good, digging trenches, building dams, moving water to new spots. People had jobs, engineers, builders, designers. In order to build the infrastructure needed to create lake leak, we needed clay, dirt that we dug down deep to find. Clay was worth money (salal leaves). Some people were in charge of collecting fallen salal leaves and buying clay or depositing it into the salal bank. Others took charge of digging up clay and some oversaw selling clay to builders and engineers so they could continue the work on Lake Leak. As children, we had created a society with money, goods, and services. Our learning extended far beyond the classroom walls incorporating and applying not only academic skills but also lifelong skills.

While Lake Leak doesn’t exists in the same space as when I was in elementary school (it was a large puddle when I was there) Lake Leak continues to live on in its new location where children once again have chances to apply their skills in “jobs” as their work toward a common good.

I think so often we overlook the value of the outdoors and learning that can occur when children are given space and freedom to discover, engage and create. I appreciate my elementary teachers as well as all current elementary teachers than continue to inspire children to learn beyond the traditional classroom walls.