Hot summer tips for outdoor learning

What better time to get outside and muddy than in the summer? Sweet smells, fresh grass, blue skies and bugs galore: the outdoors heightens all of our senses which allows us to talk more, think better and benefit from the mental and physical benefits the great outdoors brings.

The Three Ms

Let's begin with the biggest outdoor hack you will ever need that will change the quality of your outdoor learning. The Muddy Puddle Teachers follow the Three Muddy Ms. These are vital in ensuring whatever you do take out there, you do so because it has purpose. We are no box tickers; we want you to be outside because it has a benefit to your lesson that being inside would not have given you.  

1. Mother Nature: use natural items where possible. This allows for sensory development to occur but also for children to get hands-on with nature, connect with it and respect it. It is also a great way to be more sustainable, get creative and become original thinkers. Essentially, making something out of nothing is great for free-range thinkers.
2. Mental health: when we are outside, we allow kids to be kids. They gain lots of free, child-led play, time to be silly, to be loud, to move and to play games and connect with others.
3. More kids moving: inside is for sitting. Outside is for moving. Encourage lots of big gross motor movements, activity, running and doing all of those physical movements you cannot do for safety reasons inside.  

Use one or use all three: simply refer to these Three Muddy Ms and you will not go far wrong. 

Here are some top muddy tips to help you get your children out this summer. No matter what the weather brings, there are opportunities to learn.

Shadow play

Shadows are a fabulous free outdoor learning adventure that are easily adapted for all ages with amazing cross-curricular links.

Early Years: allow children to learn more about themselves by asking their partner to draw around their shadow then dressing themselves, labelling the features of their body and diving deeper with conversations about what they are like on the inside too. Use chalk to encourage writing with just the initial sound and then move on to full words and sentences. This is a super blend of fine and gross motor skills.

Infants: invite the children to walk around their outside space, look for shadows and either take pictures or make sketches of the shadows they see. Ask children to then form small groups and to think about where and how shadows happen and to present their theories to their class, using actions, acting and dancing.

Juniors: focus on the book, Shadow by J M Foster. Hand out some chalk and ask the children to make some shadow characters of their own, using adventurous vocabulary to explore their personalities. Could these be the sinister characters to your good persona? Explore making your own shadow stories.

Cracking clay

Clay is a wonderful, environmentally friendly resource to use outside. It also has lots of calming qualities to it and gives fingers a good workout! Plus, if the children drop it, we are not damaging the environment.

Early Years: make some clay bugs! Children love buys! Use natural resources to encourage the children to use the features of their bug, for example, stones for eyes or leaves for wings. Explore this further by then making the bug a habitat in a typical place it would live and add water and shelter. Consider what every living thing needs to survive.

Infants: use this as an opportunity to explore emotions and ask the children to make some clay emojis. Move the children on a little more by asking them to add features by using natural resources as tools, for example, sticks for defining eyes and leaves for creating texture.

Juniors: look into what history you have this year. Often, topics such as the Stone Age, Roman and Viking eras are explored. Try making ships from cardboard and clay to bind pieces – go big, you are outside! Or explore typical tools used in these eras and make them from clay using natural materials to define areas. Spend some time role-playing with these items and write a diary entry upon your return to class. If you take the clay inside, you can also dry it out and paint it after, adding more real features from books and photographs.

Muddy mindfulness

Something that summer also brings with it is the sun (we hope)! This can be a perfect opportunity to tap into some of that ‘outdoor play’ we used to do as kids that helped us to get to know ourselves, make friendships, and connect with nature. Sadly, we are dwindling away from it a little and it’s time to put it back on the agenda!

Ask your class, when was the last time you:

• Rolled down a hill?
• Jumped in a muddy puddle?
• Danced in the rain?
• Asked someone if they 'liked butter' using a buttercup?
• Made a mud pie?
• Could see objects out of the clouds?
• Made a daisy chain?
• Picked a flower for your parent?
• Listened in peace at the noises around you?
• Sat in silence for more than one minute?

As simple as the above suggestions sound, sometimes it is the simple things we did as kids in summer that are enjoyed the best by children, no matter their age! Every child, everywhere, deserves to smile, giggle and be silly every day! Every child.

About the author

Sarah Seaman is the founder and CEO of The Muddy Puddle Teacher. She has a deep-rooted connection with the outdoors and this is entrenched in her work as an award-winning teacher, trainer and presenter. She has recently authored a book, The Muddy Puddle Teacher: A playful way to create an outdoor early years curriculum.