Enhancing Outdoor Teaching and Learning Environments

Enhancing Outdoor Teaching and Learning Environments
Transform your outdoor space into a dynamic hub for curiosity, language, and purposeful play.

When it’s wet, cold, or blustery, taking young children outdoors can feel like a challenge. Perhaps your outdoor area sometimes resembles the M25—whizzing three-wheelers everywhere, the same activities on repeat, and endless chatter about who’s on or off a bike. Too often, the experiences stay the same all year long, even when the weather doesn’t.

But with thoughtful planning, purposeful resources, and a focus on language-rich interactions, your outdoor environment can become a powerful teaching and learning space for children of all ages.

Join us for this inspiring, research-informed training session filled with practical ideas, real-life examples, and images from settings and schools that are getting outdoor learning right. You’ll leave energised, equipped, and ready to transform your outdoor provision—rain or shine.

This session will explore:

• The proven benefits of outdoor learning, supported by current research
• How to design and enrich your outdoor environment to ensure clear progression year after year
• Strategies to eliminate repetitive, low-value play and create purposeful learning opportunities
• Effective planning, organisation, and management to ensure success for every child—regardless of age, need, or gender

Speaker: Dr Helen Bilton

Dr Helen Bilton, Emeritus Professor of Outdoor Learning and Play at the University of Reading, is a leading international authority on early years outdoor education with a distinguished 46-year career dedicated to transforming how children learn outside. Originally trained as a nursery and infant teacher, she has spent decades researching, teaching, and championing high-quality outdoor learning, authoring numerous influential papers and research-led textbooks that bridge theory and practice, including her well-regarded series on child development and outdoor learning. Helen continues to work directly with schools and early years settings, observing practice, supporting staff, and capturing real-life examples of effective outdoor environments. Her wider expertise in health and education, behaviour management, and the role of the adult has shaped several successful Future Learn courses—Supporting Successful Learning in Primary Schools, Supporting Successful Learning in Secondary Schools, and Teaching Climate and Sustainability in Primary Schools. A passionate educator and advocate, Helen remains committed to improving children’s experiences through purposeful, engaging outdoor provision.