Outdoor Activities for Teachers
This webpage was designed for teachers looking for activities, lesson plans, unit plans, and books that inspire connections with nature and learning in the outdoor environment. We tried to focus on websites that were free and met British Columbia’s Ministry of Education’s Prescribed Learning Outcomes.
Activities, lesson plans, unit plan and books:
Free!
Although there are many lesson plans and units that you can buy – we have decided to focus on free downloadable units. We want to make it easy for you to find the resources you need and get outside! All of the following links are for teachers looking for unit plans or lesson plans to inspire their teaching in the outdoors. Not all of these lesson plans and units are intended as outdoor lessons but you can adapt them to meet your needs and use them as a springboard to get your students outside!
David Suzuki foundation has amazing unit plans for K to 8 teachers. Just enter in your information to access them. I highly recommend them as a great launching pad for any outdoor program!
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/connecting-youth-with-nature/
If you are thinking about buying Coyote’s Guide then check out this website that has a few sampler activities from the book.
http://www.outdoor-nature-child.com/outdoor-education-curriculum.html
Sierra Club also has loads of resources, unit plans and lesson plans.
http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/education/resources-tools
On the National Wildlife Federation Website you can find many links for activities. This link brings you directly to their lesson plan page which is thematically organized. From Habitat to Spiders to Pollinators, you will find many different and varied lesson plans for many grade levels.
http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Kids-and-Nature/Educators/Lesson-Plans.aspx
This Forest School website is a little hard to navigate but has lots of great games for early years (preschool to grade 2). These simple activities allow children to control their own learning in a natural environment.
http://www.earlylearninghq.org.uk/lesson-plans-activity-ideas/forest-school-outdoors/
Evergreen is amazing! Here are more activities and lesson plans for all grade levels:
http://www.evergreen.ca/get-involved/resources/teachers-corner/
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS! This amazing blog is created by Kathy Inglis, a teacher-librarian and kindergarten teacher in Victoria, British Columbia. She has a MEd in teacher-librarianship and has created a list of over 60 books that are great for futhering outdoor learning. Thank you so much Kathy!
http://southparkbooktalks.blogspot.ca/p/resources-for-teaching-outdoors.html