Exploring the Seasons: Outdoor Play in Winter

Even teachers who herald the benefits of outdoor play may start doubting themselves when the air begins to chill. Across the nation, school districts establish their own rules about the cutoff temperature for recess, varying widely from state to state. Worldwide, the norms for playing outdoors in the cold vary even more widely.

While I am certainly not advocating for sending children out unprepared or in dangerous weather, there are many benefits stemming from outdoor play in all seasons. Let’s explore the why and how of getting your class outside this winter!


Connect Winter Exploration With Science

Children are naturally curious, and nature encourages them to ask questions about the world around them and experiment with their ideas. This makes science an organic connection point between outdoor play and academic learning. Children might begin to explore the properties of matter as they discover concepts like freezing and melting with ice and snow. They might also explore how to dress their bodies for the season and how different types of clothing help humans adapt to the weather like animals do.

 

Explore Seasonal Changes

The experience of the same outdoor space changes from season to season. We see this as children move from hunting for shadowy, cool spaces in the summer to creating leaf piles in the fall and picking flowers each spring.

The winter brings its own changes to your outdoor spaces, from the different animals that may visit, to the adaptations of the plants in the area. 

Ask students what they notice changing, and perhaps even record it in a drawing or journal to revisit over the course of the year!


Link Outdoor Play With Literature

There are countless books that can inspire exploration and play in a winter landscape. From copying the stick markings that Peter makes in The Snowy Day to building burrows like the animals in Over and Under the Snow, children can engage in play linked to classic stories, building critical vocabulary and background knowledge along the way.


Embrace Unstructured Outdoor Play

Just because it is winter outside does not mean that children don’t have the same needs for movement. When children are given ample opportunities to move their bodies, they’re better able to refocus their attention as they return to learning activities. While many schools offer cool-weather solutions like indoor recess or P.E. in the gymnasium, the structured nature of these activities doesn’t provide the same benefits for attentiveness. 

Challenging Norms

While the benefits of outdoor play, even in winter, are widely known, the red tape still limits many teachers and schools from doing what they know is most beneficial for their students. Whether you’re an educator who deeply values outdoor play or one who is just beginning to experiment with learning outdoors, it’s possible that you will be challenging the expected norms of your school. 

In a nation where recess commonly has a particular time frame and preferred temperature range, I’ve found that the best way to begin offering this experience to your students is to demonstrate its importance. Come equipped to conversations with research-backed benefits of winter play, or pre-make a few lesson plans showing how your lessons will meet academic standards. You may consider specifically framing this time as “outdoor learning time” vs. “recess,” especially if you’re adding an additional period of your classroom day outdoors. 


Communicate with Your School Team

Being cognizant and respectful of your school community is essential in increasing your outdoor time as well. If there is a separate space where your class can be outside – a school garden, a different space on the lawn –  that also does not disturb others’ recess time, that may be a good area to visit. 

Communicating to others about when your class will be outside also prevents stepping on toes. If you establish a regular schedule for your outdoor learning, consider adding it to your school-wide calendar for other classes to take note of. 

 

Keep Families Informed

Families might have their own trepidations about their children playing outdoors in winter. Misconceptions about the cold causing illness or worries about properly equipping their children for the weather can make parents wary of allowing their students to participate. Before venturing out with your class, you might send out information about your plans in your class news or message families with reminders about sending coats and gloves for the next day. Creating flyers with more information about the benefits of outdoor learning in wintertime can also be an effective way of getting parents on board. 

During your lessons, be intentional about taking pictures of the students at play. You can create photo galleries of the students at work, or message parents with individual pictures to demonstrate the learning they’ve accomplished during their time outside. Seeing their students happily playing and growing can go a long way toward garnering future support for learning outdoors. 

It is important to note that some families have reasonable concerns about being able to afford winter gear to keep their children safe and comfortable outside in cooler temperatures. If this is the case in your school, you might seek donations from other families or local community groups of items to keep in your classroom for those who need them. Going a step further, you could also write grants for winter gear to outfit your class or see if the PTA has additional funding that they could use to purchase a class set. 


Resources

Know you’re not alone in hoping for your students to be able to play outside, year-round. In countries all over the world and in states across our country, there are teachers successfully advocating for their students to experience all that the outdoors has to offer for growth and learning.

Check out the resources in our Benefits of Outdoor Play blog post to for research that backs your efforts or inspiration for your next outdoor learning session.

And e
xplore and download School Signals Outdoor Education Activities for ideas how to integrate more educational outdoor time for students.


Christina Cunningham

Explore, Learn, and Grow: Outdoor Adventures for Pre-K to 6th Grade

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