Outdoor Classrooms: Nature-Based Teaching and Learning for Educators and Parents

What if the principles of forest school weren’t limited to forest schools?

In this episode of the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Jean Lomino, founder of the Forest School Teacher Institute, co-founder of Tennessee’s first forest kindergarten, and a longtime leader in nature-based education.

Jean has helped train more than 1,000 forest school educators and directors from around the world, but what I love most about this conversation is the bigger question behind her work: How can we make meaningful outdoor learning accessible to ALL children?

We talk about Jean’s journey from classroom teacher to forest school leader, what children can teach us when we give them time and freedom outdoors, and how forest school principles can begin finding their way into traditional and public school settings.

We also talk about Jean’s recent appearance in the documentary Farm School’d and what she hopes it will help people understand about children, learning, and our relationship with the natural world.

In this episode, we explore:

• Jean’s journey into forest school education

• Her experience being featured in Farm School’d

• What children teach us when we slow down and follow their lead

• Why outdoor learning doesn’t require a perfect forest or acres of land

• The growing possibilities for forest programs within public schools

• How educators can begin with one small step

• Jean’s vision for the future of children, nature, and education

This conversation is an invitation to think bigger about what education could become—and to remember that meaningful change often begins small.

Dream Big. Start Small. Cultivate Change.

Contact Dr. Jean Lomino

Founder & Director, Forest School Teacher Institute

Email: [email protected]

General email: [email protected]

Website: Forest School Teacher Institute

Outdoor Classroom Resources & Links:

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Connect with Victoria:

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outdoor_classrooms/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OutdoorClassrooms1

Sponsorship Opportunities:

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

Subscribe to the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.

What happens when we slow down, step outside, and give children time to truly notice the natural world around them?

In this episode of The Outdoor Classrooms Podcast, I’m joined by educator, nature kindergarten teacher, and author Peter Dargatz to celebrate his new children’s book, Winter Friends.

Peter is also the author of Teaching Off Trail and has spent years helping children learn through play, exploration, curiosity, and connection with nature. We talk about how those experiences inspired Winter Friends and what it means for Peter to fulfill a longtime dream of becoming a children’s book author.

We also explore the power of slowing down and noticing, the unique opportunities winter offers for outdoor learning, and how children’s literature can become a bridge between reading about nature and actually experiencing it.

• The inspiration behind Winter Friends

• Peter’s journey from nature kindergarten teacher to children’s book author

• Helping children notice, wonder, and connect with nature

• Why winter is rich with opportunities for outdoor learning

• Using children’s books as a springboard for outdoor exploration

• Giving educators permission to start small

This conversation is a beautiful reminder that cultivating wonder doesn’t require a perfect outdoor space or an elaborate lesson.

Sometimes it simply begins when we open the door, step outside, and notice what’s already there.

Dream Big. Start Small. Cultivate Change.

Peter Dargatz is a nature-loving kindergarten teacher and retired racing sausage. In 2016, he created an outdoor classroom at his public school in Wisconsins and has since further developed it into a school-wide collaboration with a local nature center and a district-wide family nature club. He has written two books so far. TEACHING OFF TRAIL focuses on his unique teaching style and his debut picture book, WINTER FRIENDS, will be released Tuesday, October 27th. When he's not writing, he is enjoying time on his family farm with his wife, kids, cats, and chickens.

Learn more about Peter Dargatz at PeterDargatz.com and look for Winter Friends wherever books are sold.

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram

Facebook

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.

What happens when educators are given a framework, a community, and permission to see their outdoor spaces through a different lens?

In this special episode of The Outdoor Classrooms Podcast, we’re celebrating the newest graduates of the Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program and the incredible work that grew from their journey.

Beginning with the 5 Phases of Teaching Outdoors and Four Types of Teaching Gardens, educators learned to look at their existing outdoor spaces differently. Through the Seasonal Masterclasses, they dug deeper into teaching and learning outdoors. And finally, in the Teaching Beyond Walls Capstone, they chose a project they were passionate about and brought it to life.

The results were as unique as the educators themselves—from creating a new business and writing a children’s book to developing a Protecting Play toolkit, growing a Garden that Feeds, transforming outdoor spaces, and bringing a community together to create an outdoor classroom.

Different projects. Different paths. One common thread: more meaningful time outside for children.

Along the way, these educators discovered new confidence, new ways of seeing possibilities, and a community of people who share their WHY.

As one graduate beautifully put it:

“Less prep, more presence.”

Join me as we celebrate what happens when educators take what they learn, make it their own, and begin creating ripples of change.

Dream Big. Start Small. Cultivate Change.

Outdoor Classroom Resources & Links:

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Connect with Victoria:

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outdoor_classrooms/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OutdoorClassrooms1

Sponsorship Opportunities:

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

Subscribe to the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.

What happens when you look at an overgrown piece of land and see possibility?

In this special Tour & Talk episode of The Outdoor Classrooms Podcast, I’m joined by Robert from W.I.S.E. Forest School in Wakayama, Japan, for a conversation about creating a place where children can learn, explore, take risks, and build a relationship with the natural world.

Through photographs of the W.I.S.E. environment, Robert takes us behind the scenes of the space—sharing how it began, how it has evolved, and how the children themselves continue to shape it.

We talk about child-led learning, Forest School philosophy, sustainability, appropriate risk, learning through the seasons, and the intersection of Robert’s British roots with his work in Japan.

Most importantly, we explore a question at the heart of every outdoor classroom:

How do we create spaces that aren't simply made for children—but can truly become theirs?

Whether you have access to a forest, a playground, a courtyard, or one small patch of green, Robert's story is a beautiful reminder that outdoor learning doesn't begin with having the perfect space.

It begins with seeing possibility.

W.I.S.E. (Wakayama International School of English) Forest School opened in spring 2024 in Kimiidera, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, as Japan's first and only all-English "British International Forest School" incorporating a British curriculum.

Based on W.I.S.E.'s philosophy of "high-quality English education at an affordable price," we go beyond the boundaries of an English school to learn English not just by learning English itself, but by broadening our perspective globally and learning many things practically through English.

In a nature-immersed environment, you can be free and true to yourself. We aim to be a "one-of-a-kind" presence that nurtures not only English proficiency but also individuality, confidence, the ability to survive in modern society, and independence.

Rob is from England, the UK, and has travelled the world extensively since 2009. He has taught English and Geography in UK primary schools and various other countries.

He majored in BA Geography with honors at university and earned a Master's degree in Environmental Science from graduate school in England.

From childhood to now, Rob has loved nature through fishing, camping, mountain climbing, conservation and education. He chose "Forest School" as a place to pass on his extensive knowledge and experience to the next generation.

• Website: W.I.S.E. Forest School
• Instagram: @w.i.s.e._english_wakayama

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram

Facebook

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.

September is full of new routines, new children, and plans that don’t always work quite the way we imagined.

But what if that doesn’t mean something is going wrong? What if September is simply giving us information?

In this episode of the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast, Victoria explores how small systems can make teaching outdoors easier, more sustainable, and more child-centered. From transitions and clothing to materials, boundaries, and the role of the adult, you’ll be encouraged to look at what’s really happening before adding another rule, activity, or solution.

You’ll also hear one important question to bring into your outdoor classroom:

Is this a child problem—or could it be a systems problem?

Your September invitation is simple:

Notice. Adjust. Simplify. Repeat.

Small steps. A little each day.

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram

Facebook

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.

What happens when you plan the perfect first day in your outdoor classroom…and then it rains?

In this episode, I’m taking you into the Secret Gardens Outdoor Classroom, where our first day back became a lesson in pivoting, noticing, and embracing what the season gives us.

We’ll explore how changing weather, falling leaves, messy gardens, and shifting seasons can become part of the curriculum—and why an outdoor classroom is never truly finished.

In this episode:

• Turning unexpected weather into learning
• Finding curriculum in seasonal change
• Embracing the “messy middle”
• Seeing your space through an Educator’s Lens
• Growing your outdoor classroom through small steps

And one question to take with you:

What is this season asking of your outdoor classroom?

Start where you are. Notice what’s changing. Take one small step.

A little each day.

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram

Facebook

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.

What if one of the greatest gifts of teaching outdoors is simply learning to pay attention again?

In this episode, Victoria begins with an ordinary moment: sitting on the couch, surrounded by screens, and feeling frustrated that "together time" didn't actually feel very together. Then came the uncomfortable realization: she was looking at a screen too.

That small moment opened a much bigger question: What culture are we participating in - and is it the culture we actually want to create?

With nearly half of American teens reporting that they are online almost constantly, our relationship with screens, attention, and connection is worth examining. But this isn't an episode about blaming technology - or anyone else.

It's about looking at what we model.

Victoria explores how our everyday habits shape the culture children experience and why outdoor classrooms offer something increasingly valuable: a place to slow down, look up, notice, wonder, and practice paying attention to the world around us.

In this episode, you'll explore:

• What our frustrations can reveal about what we value
• The connection between screens, attention, and presence
• What children learn by watching the adults around them
• How everyday routines quietly create classroom culture
• Why outdoor classrooms can become places to practice attention
• The difference between telling children nature matters and modeling it
• How to do a simple "culture audit" of your outdoor teaching practice
• Why meaningful change can begin by changing just one thing

You don't have to eliminate screens or completely reinvent your classroom.

Start by noticing.

Look up. Pay attention. Change one thing.

Because the small choices we repeat become our habits. Our habits create our culture. And we create the culture.

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram

Facebook

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.

Have you ever felt like you’re swimming upstream as a nature-based educator?

You believe in getting children outside. You see the learning, confidence, curiosity, and connection that happen there. But when you’re constantly explaining—or even defending—why this work matters, it can be easy to start questioning yourself.

In this episode of the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast, I’m exploring the power of being in the room with people who understand the work you’re trying to do.

Inspired by conversations in our Teaching Beyond Walls Capstone Course, we’ll talk about finding the language to articulate the value of nature-based education, moving from defending our practice to advocating for it, and the idea of borrowing courage from others when our own confidence wavers.

Because maybe the answer isn’t to swim harder.

Maybe it’s time to find your people.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why nature-based educators can feel isolated and begin questioning their practice
• How being in the right room changes what we believe is possible
• Finding the words to communicate the value of outdoor learning
• Moving from defending your practice to advocating for it
• The power of “borrowed courage”
• Why community is essential for sustaining this work
• How the CIRCLE Community creates space for nature-based educators to learn, share, question, and grow together

If you’ve been feeling like you’re doing this work alone, this episode is your invitation to get in the room.

You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be the expert. And you don’t have to swim upstream alone.

Find your people. Get in the room. And when you do, hold the door open for the next educator.

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram

Facebook

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.

What if your outdoor classroom doesn’t need to be finished—or even close to perfect—to be meaningful?

In this episode, we’re talking about two permissions every outdoor educator needs: permission to start small and permission to embrace the messy middle.

It’s easy to look at a beautiful, established outdoor classroom and think you need the budget, materials, master plan, and perfect space before you can begin. But meaningful outdoor classrooms rarely happen all at once. They grow one idea, one experiment, and one small step at a time.

And once you start? Things get messy.

Children use materials in ways you never expected. Plants die. Plans change. Carefully designed spaces get rearranged. Something you thought children would love gets ignored—while the simplest addition captures their attention for weeks.

That messy middle isn’t a sign that you’re doing it wrong. It’s where the learning happens.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why starting small is not the same as thinking small
• How to begin with what you already have
• Why your outdoor classroom doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s
• What children’s unexpected use of a space can teach us
• How to view the “mess” as information instead of failure
• Why outdoor classrooms should evolve alongside the children who use them
• How to recognize progress that has nothing to do with how beautiful your space looks
• When to keep going, change direction, or let an idea go

Whether you’re dreaming about your first outdoor classroom, taking your first few steps, or standing right in the middle wondering if any of it is working, this conversation is for you.

You don’t need the whole plan to begin.

Start small. Stay curious. Let it be messy.

Then take the next small step.

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram

Facebook

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.

What happens when you say yes before you feel completely ready?

In this episode, I’m taking you along on my hut-to-hut trek through Sweden—and sharing the unexpected lessons I brought home about courage, Outdoor Classrooms, and community.

Along the trail, I was reminded that we don't need to see the entire path before taking the first step. Whether you're trekking through Sweden or growing an Outdoor Classroom, sometimes you simply need to focus on the next hut.

In this episode, we explore:

• Saying yes before you feel completely ready
• Taking your Outdoor Classroom one step at a time
• Learning to embrace uncertainty and discomfort
• Why who you walk with matters
• How the CIRCLE can be the community that walks alongside you

So, what's your next hut?

You don't need to have the whole trail mapped out—and you don't have to walk it alone.

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

🎓 Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program

🌸 CIRCLE Membership Community

Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram

Facebook

If you believe in the power of outdoor learning and nature-based education, we'd love to partner with you. Sponsoring the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast helps support educators while connecting your organization with a passionate community of teachers, school leaders, and families.

Contact Victoria at [email protected] to learn more.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and share this conversation with a fellow educator or parent. Your support helps more people discover the transformative power of nature-based education.