BENEFITS OF OUTDOOR LEARNING

 “Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach us more than we can ever learn from books.” 

~John Lubbock

Outdoor learning in natural areas can be enriching for children, enabling them to learn beyond the borders of their classroom, and has the potential to directly and indirectly strengthen schools’ educational practice. 

There are innumerable benefits of outdoor learning. These are some of the broad-range areas of instrumental gains:

1. Better Health:

Every part of our body needs to be energized and outdoor play definitely caters to that, thus leading to better health of the students. Studies have revealed that outdoor education can be a key factor in avoiding childhood obesity. It helps students be in natural surroundings that develop their senses and leads to physiological and psychological growth.

2. Increased Motivation:

Kids of any age naturally have the need to move around. Sufficient amount of physical activities outdoors freshens the mind and body. Thereafter, children are happy, motivated and relaxed to do activities indoors. They can focus better on the task at hand. 

3. Enhanced Communication And Socio-Emotional Skills:

Outdoor education calls for collaboration and team building tasks. Children learn to communicate with each other and build healthy relationships. It gives them the space to explore, discover and think freely, thus reducing barriers to communication.

4. Improved Memory And Imagination:

Moving outdoors for some time opens up a world of fresh stimuli, resulting in making better connections to learning and improving the power of recall and retention.

5. Better Overall Behaviour And Reduced Stress Levels:

Children and young adults are constantly growing, changing and evolving, having to deal with many things at a time. Outdoor education allows them to build essential life skills.

In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, spending quality time outdoors in the form of a sport/game, exercising, travelling or being one with nature is very important. Such experiences provide the means of self-discovery, self-expression and enjoyment which are at once both stimulating and fulfilling.

It thus emerges that, for young people and adults alike, outdoor adventure is perceived as a vehicle for building values and ideals, for developing creativity and enterprise, for enhancing a sense of citizenship, and for widening physical and spiritual horizons.