🌳 Not Just PE: Outdoor Pedagogy for Every Subject

vanessa speigle
Aug 30
3 min read

Today is National Eat Outside Day! 🍽 Maybe you’ll take your sandwich outdoors for a change of scenery. But what if going outside wasn’t just for lunch or PE?

Adult crouches on the forest floor giving a high-five to a young child in rain boots and a colorful jacket. The scene highlights encouragement, connection, and outdoor learning in nature.”

In Finland, outdoor pedagogy is woven into the rhythm of the school year. It’s part of how children develop the transversal competencies that carry them through life: curiosity, multi-literacy, participation, and building a sustainable future.

And Finland isn’t alone. From forest kindergartens in Germany and Denmark to outdoor initiatives in the UK, Australia, and Chile, schools worldwide are rediscovering what happens when learning steps beyond the classroom walls: focus improves, creativity flourishes, and students learn to connect knowledge with real life.

So today, while many are celebrating with a picnic, let’s explore why outdoor learning is about so much more than PE or field trips.

🌍 Why Outdoor Pedagogy Matters Globally

In Finland, outdoor learning is an extension of the classroom, whether it’s math lessons in the schoolyard or science projects in nearby forests.
In the UK and Belgium, access to green school spaces has been linked to better working memory, less inattentiveness, and even higher IQ scores among students (The Guardian).
In Germany and Denmark, “forest schools” allow children to spend most of their day outside, building resilience and independence (Culture Trip).
In Australia and Chile, outdoor pedagogy is being recognized in curriculum discussions, linking well-being with authentic, place-based learning (Springer research).
In Norway, nearly all preschools include weekly hikes, making physical activity and exploration a routine part of learning (AP News).

Research consistently shows that outdoor learning boosts engagement, well-

being, and academic outcomes and it doesn’t require fancy facilities. It requires a mindset: the outdoors belongs to every subject, every grade, every child.

🌿 Practical Applications - Subjects Outdoors, Competencies in Action

Taking learning outside isn’t about adding one more thing to your plate. It’s about seeing how Math, English, and Science can grow outdoors and how transversal competencies come alive when students explore, lead, and reflect in nature.

Group of children sit on grass with two teachers outdoors. One teacher holds a clear container for observation while children write in notebooks, showing outdoor science and inquiry-based learning.”

📏 Math Among the Trees

Activities: Estimate tree height with footsteps, graph leaf shapes, measure distances with sticks.
Finnish transversal competencies: T1 Thinking & learning to learn, T6 Working life competence.
CBC competencies: Critical thinking & problem-solving, communication, collaboration.
Life Skills: Problem-solving, resilience, creativity when strategies don’t work the first time.

📖 English Under the Sky

Activities: Write descriptive paragraphs inspired by outdoor sights and sounds, create “story walks,” or read poetry aloud in natural soundscapes.
Finnish transversal competencies: T2 Cultural competence & self-expression, T4 Multi-literacy.
CBC competencies: Communication, creativity & imagination.
Life Skills: Confidence in voice, emotional literacy, connecting language with lived experience.

🔬 Science in Nature

“Four young children crouch together in a forest, exploring the ground with magnifying glasses. They wear boots and outdoor clothes, deeply engaged in nature-based learning.”

Activities: Observe soil layers, test water flow, track plant growth, identify insect habitats.
Finnish transversal competencies: T3 Taking care of oneself & managing daily life, T7 Participation & sustainability.
CBC competencies: Citizenship, critical thinking & problem-solving.
Life Skills: Ecological awareness, patience, teamwork, responsibility toward the environment.

📘 New One-Day Lesson Plan: Outdoor Measurement Lab

To celebrate National Eat Outside Day, we’ve created a special one-day Rekla lesson:

“Colorful illustrated poster for National Eat Outside Day. Diverse children measure with sticks, stones, and leaves outdoors. Text reads: Measure distances with footsteps and sticks, Compare perimeters using stones and leaves, Estimate tree heights with shadows. Footer: A Rekla one-day lesson for Grades 1–9 — real math, real place.”

📏 Outdoor Measurement Lab: Real Math, Real Place (Grades 1–9)

In this lesson, students explore measurement and

division using only what nature provides: footsteps, sticks, leaves, stones, and shadows.

👉 National Eat Outside Day - Measurement Math

Inside you’ll find:

A complete 19-section Rekla lesson plan built on Finnish pedagogy
Adaptations for Grades 1–3, 4–6, and 7–9
Built-in leadership roles and reflection routines
Large-class strategies for 40–60 students
Research-backed benefits of outdoor pedagogy (focus, well-being, collaboration)

No rulers. No worksheets. Just real math, real context, and real leadership.

🌱 Final Reflection

National Eat Outside Day is playful, but it carries a deeper truth: learning outside is powerful, practical, and joyful.

When Rekla values: trust, inquiry, play, collaboration, and reflection, are brought outdoors, classrooms shift. Students discover leadership, teachers feel lighter, and schools take on a culture of hope and curiosity.

🌟 How might you take just one subject outdoors this week and what leadership moment could it create for your students?