Making the most of outdoor
learning spaces
The good news is, everyone can go out-
side, making outdoor learning opportunities
accessible. Experts offer some advice on how
to make the most of time outside ina make-
shift nature classroom.

According to Zavaleta, one of the beauties
of outdoor learning is that the environment
is always changing. This not only means that
16 Washington FAMILY
MARCH 2023
Families en route; Maydale Groundhog Day
the lesson plans are always changing, but also
that not even teachers or parents can know
what exactly to expect, putting them on the
same level as their students, neutralizing
hierarchical relationships and bringing won-
der to all parties.

“We are entering that space at the same
time and we are both experiencing whatever
nature offers us,” she says.

Using this philosophy, it’s important to
embrace the changing of seasons. Each time
you go outside, you’re likely to experience
something new.

“It’s a different experience because the
wind is going to perform differently; the
sun is going to be shining in a different
place; the leaves are going to look different,”
Zavaleta says.

Children can even explore the outdoors in
the winter, and experts encourage it.

“There is a benefit to being outside in
the wintertime,” Brusaferro says. “There’s
immune benefits to being exposed to cold
weather, just as there’s benefits to being out
in the summertime. So we always like to say
that there’s no such thing as bad weather.

You just have the right gear, and you can go
out in any kind of conditions. And it is bene-
ficial to experience the whole cyclical nature
of the seasons.”
You don’t need to stray far from home
to reap the benefits of a nature classroom.

Brusaferro insists that it’s just as valuable to
observe nature right outside your front door.

“You can do it right off the side-
walk,” she says.

What are the trees and grasses outside of
your house or on the way to school? What
insects are munching on the plants?
“You can find so much life within a one-by-
one square foot patch of grass,” she says. n
PHOTO COURTESY OF MOTGOMERY PARKS
Zavaleta, a pediatric nature-based occu-
pational therapist and founder of Rooted
Nature OT in Washington, D.C., which com-
bines time in the outdoors with occupational
therapy for children, spending time outside
can prevent children from feeling afraid of
their outdoor surroundings.

“When kids know what’s around them in
nature... they’re gonna want to understand
it more, become more curious and want to
protect it, want to preserve it, become part
of it,” Zavaleta says. “Whereas if they stay
behind closed doors, they’re not even going
to know. And sometimes, it even goes to this
scary place.”
A wooded area becomes mysterious and
intimidating. Nature becomes associated
with animals that sting, bite or poison, rather
than an environment that can help soothe.