The Benefits of Being & Learning Outdoors

The potential benefits of outdoor learning are vast, with an ever growing research base proving what we often intrinsically know to be true – that being out-of-doors makes us feel ‘better’.

The potential benefits of outdoor learning are vast, with an ever growing research base proving what we often intrinsically know to be true – that being out-of-doors makes us feel ‘better’. A taster of this evidence base can be found here, What does the research say about Outdoor Learning? , courtesy of the English Outdoor Council. What is apparent is that by just being out-of-doors yields benefits for us first as individuals and then collectively as a society. Some of these benefits may be engineered or planned, but many benefits are seen to be the unintended consequence of the effects of being ‘present’ within the non-human world.

Through carefully planned, curated and facilitated out-of-door learning experiences we can expect individuals to:

develop self esteem, take personal responsibility, co-operate with and respect the needs of the non-human world;
extend their personal horizons through greater appreciation and understanding of the non-human world around them;
understand the need for sustainable relationships between people and the non-human world; and
promote a positive and knowledgeable response towards personal health and well being by recognising their relationship with the world around them.

By being out-of-doors we find a fertile space devoid of societal 'noise' to begin a transition from Competition to Collaboration, Consumerism to Compassion and Conformity to Creativity.

As previously discussed – #rewildachild Moving from Consumerism to Compassion in a Human and Non-human world – we need to help individuals, particularity children and adolescents, reconnect with the non-human world, rekindle a deep connection with this world and with this develop a physical and psychological position which will motivate our activities towards a more sustainable way of being within this world. This can be achieved through facilitating carefully planned out-of-door learning experiences.

Alongside these ‘planned for benefits’ we can also recognise ‘background benefits’, including:

enhanced personal and social communication skills;
increased physical health;
enhanced mental and spiritual health;
enhanced spiritual, sensory, and aesthetic awareness; and
the ability to assert personal control and increased sensitivity to one’s own well-being.

By being and immersing oneself in the non-human world we activate changes within ourselves and with these come far reaching benefits with broad ramifications.

In ‘Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder’, author Richard Louv tells of the many barriers we face in bringing children back to the wilds – ‘most parents and educators acknowledge this situation, many are confounded as to how to bring children back to nature.’ Yet the solution is easy – Get dirty. Get out their. Go wild. Essentially #rewildachild.