In this blog we explore ideas and inspiration for taking literacy learning outside. We have worked with Alfresco Learning to include some innovative suggestions to inspire you to take your literacy outdoors.
The Importance of Outdoor Literacy
The natural world provides a rich, sensory learning environment, creating the perfect backdrop for inspiring storytelling and descriptive writing. When we are exposed to the different sounds, sights and smells of the outdoors, our creativity and imaginations can flow freely.
We also know the calming effect nature can have on us. Being in the great outdoors has been proven to help reduce stress and anxiety, and to improve children’s focus and concentration. This helps our learners (and ourselves) to feel calmer, more regulated and therefore ready to listen and learn.
The benefits of Teaching Literacy Outdoors
Teaching literacy outdoors can:
- Enhance pupil engagement with learning.
- Boost creativity and imagination.
- Create opportunities to inspire vocabulary and creative language.
- Offer an inspiring environment to develop vocabulary, creative language, poetry and storytelling.
- Support well-being, calming and emotional regulation
- Encourage physical activity and get children active in their learning.
- Provide opportunities for collaboration and teamwork.
It is also widely recognised that language is the foundation for learning and the outdoors provides a fantastic environment for supporting language development. Many studies (such as The Impact of Time Spent in Natural Outdoor Spaces on Children’s Language, Communication and Social Skills, Scott et all 2022) show that through fostering better social connections, learning outdoors leads to children speaking up to five times more words than indoors and show improvements in their vocabulary when speaking outside. Therefore, utilising an outdoor environment to support language in literacy lessons not only provides real-life context and inspiration but actively supports your pupil’s language development and understanding at the same time.
Utilising the Outdoor Environment for Literacy Learning Outdoors
Whether you have lots of green, open space or a smaller, more urban outdoor setting, you can use the outdoor environment to support learning. All outdoor environments can provide opportunities for taking literacy outdoors when you know how to use the outdoors to support learning.
How to use the outdoor environment for Literacy
When thinking about taking Literacy outdoors we have to consider how the outdoor environment will deepen learning through those lessons. Whilst taking books outdoors to write in them on a nice day does provide the benefits of being in a more natural environment, it doesn’t necessarily deepen the children’s understanding of the lesson objective. Instead, when taking Literacy outdoors we should be using that environment to hook the children into their learning.
Let’s look at an example, so if you are delivering a unit of work on ‘The Wild Robot’ and your focus is fronted adverbials this is how you would utilise the outdoor environment:
- Begin the lesson by having children hunt for adjectives and fronted adverbials hidden around your outdoor space. You could write these on wipeable brightly coloured labels for ease.
- Next, use the outdoor environment to create your hook by asking the children to recreate the scene where we are introduced to the robot, when it is swept up onto an island in broken pieces, using cardboard boxes, collected packaging and natural items.
- Finally have the children observe the scenes they have made, constructing sentences using the fronted adverbials and adjectives to describe the scene.
Resources for supporting outdoor learning
It can be really helpful to have a collection of outdoor learning essentials always stocked, easily accessible and ready to be used whenever needed. Some settings create portable grab and go kits that have the essential tools there ready to go, such as chalk, pencils, chalkboards, paper and clipboards.
The Alfresco Learning Starter Kit has been designed by Alfresco Learning to contain everything you might need for taking everyday learning outdoors. Inside is a set of portable sit mats meaning you can set up your outdoor lesson anywhere around your outdoor space. This can help you to make the most of every corner of your outdoor areas. The trolley transports the sit mats plus any other lesson resources you might need and make a handy base for placing water bottles or excess layers the children decide to take off whilst you’re outdoors.
Included is also a class set of clip boards, playground chalk, wipeable pockets to which you can add templates of worksheets inside of, plus a collection of outdoor activities you can apply to your lesson plans across the curriculum.
Outdoor Literacy Activities and Games
Using the environment as inspiration for outdoor literacy activities can be done in many different ways. Here are some ideas for to take literacy outside across different age groups:
Ideas for Outdoor Literacy for KS1 and KS2
- Explore nature-linked creative writing and storytelling.
- Develop listening skills by heading out on a ‘listening walk’ to tune into the sounds of nature.
- Create large scale story maps outdoors.
- Read and discuss nature poems and or have a go at writing some nature poetry.
- Make nature journals – provide clipboards and paper for children to draw, write and record what they observe in nature, such as plants, insects and the weather.
- Explore outdoor spelling and grammar games.
- Use sensory word banks using adjectives to describe what they see, hear and feel.
- Make vocabulary guides for identifying and naming different things in nature, such as birds, trees and other living things.
- Create treasure hunts such as finding objects based on clues in a book.
- Read and share books based around the great outdoors and nature.
- Bring physical movement into phonics learning such as a phonics hopscotch game.
- Develop vocabulary as children explore through microscopes.
Supporting Literacy through Outdoor Play in Early Years
- Try active and movement-based activities such as scavenger hunts, alphabet and word games, action phonics and obstacle courses with stations to read signs or write a word.
- Plan for creative and imaginative play opportunities where children can act out their favourite stories and role-play different scenarios. They could then work with an adult to scribe and model their storytelling.
- Develop reading and writing skills with outdoor reading areas and writing stations.
- The outdoors is great for large scale motor skills practice as a start to handwriting. Mark making with large brushes, mops and water, big paintbrushes and watered down powder paint or drawing big shapes with chalks, will all help build those valuable muscles for writing.
- Explore themed story bags linked to the great outdoors, such as the Mad about Minibeasts Vocabulary Bag with a collection of books, finger puppets and games to inspire children about minibeasts.
- Observe changes in the outdoor environment and uses these to inspire writing, storytelling and speaking. You could describe what they see outdoors as the seasons change and use nature walks to capture feelings. Talking recordables outside can help children to record their observations.
- Ask children to create signs for their outdoor space, such as marking the areas or natural items.
Inspiring Outdoor Literacy Resources
The great outdoors offers many natural resources that could inspire storytelling, be used for mark making and support wider literacy. A pinecone could be a magical key to a new kingdom, or the minibeast hotel could inspire a diary entry of a minibeasts adventure.
Alongside this, there are many curriculum linked resources that have been designed to be used outdoors. These include the TTS Outdoor Literacy Kit and the Active Outdoor Literacy Collection.
Mark Making and Writing Outdoors
Consider resources that will help children to develop the motor skills needed for writing and also inspire them to write in different ways, on different surfaces.
For example:
- Mark Making Chalkboards (Many of these have free downloadable activity ideas)
- Wooden Writing Boards
- Acrylic Creative Frames
- Outdoor Chalkboard Alphabet Line
- Outdoor Trundle Wheelie Painters
- Weaving Frames (for motor skills)
- Large mark making resources such as mops, brushes and paintbrushes
Recordable Resources
Simple technology resources that allow children to record their observations, thoughts or stories can inspire and motivate speaking and listening skills. Children can also capture their observations in the moment and then review them as many times as they need.
Some recordable resources that could support outdoor learning include:
- Recordable Magnifying Glasses
- See & Speak Binoculars
- Outdoor Big Points
- Recordable Clipboards
- Talking Pegs
Phonics and Reading
Get children moving and physical when exploring phonics and word building.
Some examples of outdoor literacy resources include:
- 44 Sounds Outdoor Tiles
- Silicone Phonics Mats for word building
- Alphabet Silicone Mats
- Outdoor phonics spots and other phonics resources
- Outdoor Reading Collection
Creating spaces for outdoor literacy
Zone your outdoor space and establish areas that inspire storytelling and creative writing. Build a cosy reading nook for sharing books or a space to enjoy and observe nature, helping to develop vocabulary and inspire writing.
Outdoor Reading Spaces
To encourage reading everywhere, you could:
- Create a ‘basket of books’ ready to take outside. Many favourite stories are set outdoors and reading them outside will help to bring them to life.
- Set up a reading den, log circle or story tent as a space to sit comfortably and share stories aloud or read independently.
- Use soft furnishings such as mats, waterproof cushions, blankets, canopies so that children have somewhere comfy to sit.
- Use an Immersive environment backdrop to create a more natural or magical feel to your outside space. This can be especially helpful if you have limited green space and lots of fences to cover.
- Include mark making resources for children to draw or write about the books they read.
Outdoor Book Ideas
Here are some books that link to the theme of the great outdoors. What better place to read about the blowing wind on a Bear Hunt than outdoors!
Suggested books for the outdoors:
- Stick by Irene Dickson – inspiring all the fun you can have with a stick.
- Stanley’s Stick by John Hegley – Encourage the children to use their imaginations to pretend the stick is something else. Collect sticks from a walk and use the sticks to make marks in the sand or mud or dip into paint and use as a paintbrush.
- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen -Perfect for reading aloud and acting out outdoors.
- The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson – Ideal for a story walk and to inspire I Spy type games.
- Nature Trail by Benjamin Zephaniah- Perform the rhyming text and celebrate nature. Go on your own nature trail and see what you can find.
- Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne – A classic tale that takes place in the outdoors and celebrates friendships.
- The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame – Enjoy the adventures of the countryside animals and go on a nature walk recounting the living things seen.
- Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome – Enjoy the classic adventure and encourage children to invent their own outdoor games with secret codes and signals.
- The Lost Bear by Hannah Gold – A charming story that highlights the importance of protecting polar bears and their habitat
In Conclusion – get outdoors!
Getting outdoors to explore language and literacy can not only support children’s understanding, but can also motivate them, support attention and listening and help them to calm so they are ready to learn. Incorporate seasonal themes and nature inspired activities into learning and provide a great opportunity for developing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.
This blog was written by Rachel Betteridge alongside Hollie Hindle and Jenny Wood from Alfresco Learning.
