Planting the Seeds of Outdoor Learning: Transforming Education Through Outdoor Learning Spaces

By Steve Siegel, AIA, LEED AP, and Will Sewter, RLA, PLA, ASLA, CLARB

In the evolving conversation around K–12 education, one idea keeps gaining traction: classrooms have the potential to be so much more than just rooms with four walls. At Spring Lake Heights Elementary School, this vision became the foundation for the new Discovery Den, an outdoor learning space designed to help students foster a deep connection with the outdoors, while promoting holistic learning experiences. This represents a powerful statement in how the District and the school thinks about education, wellness, and space.

A Vision Takes Root
Spring Lake Heights has routinely identified the immense possibilities for outdoor learning to not only foster student engagement, emotional well-being, and environmental awareness, but also to involve the community in the positive shaping of young minds. The vision of this outdoor sensory classroom, seamlessly blends education and nature, while offering students fresh, meaningful, and real-world learning opportunities. The Discovery Den will ignite curiosity through hands-on exploration, boost academic achievement, and support physical and mental health. To help accomplish these goals, the design incorporates elements such as a sensory wall, Peace Pole, Wishing Tree, sundial, and raised garden beds that grow both flowers and food. Together, these elements create a dynamic, hands-on space where students can explore, reflect, and engage with the world around them.

Why Outdoor Learning Matters
In recent years, education design has shifted to support neurodiversity and establish a greater responsibility to teach “the whole student.” After COVID-19 forced classes outside, teachers saw firsthand how fresh air and open space boosted focus, happiness, and participation. Ninety-seven percent of teachers say outdoor play is essential for children to reach their full potential and have noticed that kids are happier and more engaged when lessons take place outside.¹ It’s not just about learning in nature, it’s about learning from nature.

At Spring Lake Heights, the Covid-19 pandemic kickstarted this idea when separation was necessary in the classroom and students were clearly enjoying being outside and mask-free as much as possible. The resulting improvement in mood and academic results was the catalyst for a more permanent environment offering a multi-sensory experience: the Discovery Den.

Benefits of Outdoor Learning
There’s growing evidence that outdoor learning offers a powerful boost to students’ academic, mental, and emotional health. Children who spend regular time in green spaces show stronger academic performance, especially in science, alongside improvements in concentration, attention span, and reduced symptoms of ADHD. Access to nature helps reduce anxiety and depression, promotes physical activity, and fosters resilience against illness. Green environments also encourage creativity, movement, social interaction, and problem-solving, which together enhance learning in STEM, the arts, and language. Teachers report higher job satisfaction and find that being outdoors sparks more creativity in their instruction. Across whole school campuses, greener settings correlate with higher satisfaction for staff and students, and these natural infrastructures also help reduce pollution and manage stormwater runoff, making them assets for the school and neighborhood. All these benefits combined deliver better retention, increased curiosity, reduced stress, and stronger relationships between students and teachers, making outdoor classrooms an investment in everyone’s well-being.

Key Design Considerations: Bringing the Vision to Life
As Spring Lake Heights School moves from idea to implementation, several design principles are guiding every decision:

• Distributed micro-spaces rather than one large “outside room”: Instead of a single outdoor classroom, the design should embody a variety of zones: shaded seating, garden plots, inclusive circulation, interactive sensory zones, and an outdoor stage with multiple seating-type options. This dispersal encourages spontaneous use and lets teachers and students choose the scale and tone of their activity.
• Seamless connectivity with indoor spaces: The transition between indoors and outdoors should feel effortless. Thoughtful locations of doorways, windows, and inclusive pathways help create a sense of flow, making the outdoor areas feel like natural extensions of the classroom rather than separate spaces.
• Blending nature and learning: Using native plants, interactive gardens, and rainwater systems can help transform the outdoors into a living lab. Students can help tend, observe, measure, and steward these systems, deepening science, ethics, and community.
• Visibility, safety, and inclusivity: While emphasizing openness, the design should maintain sight lines for supervision, safe circulation paths, and inclusive surface materials. Thoughtful details like seating heights, entry points, and sensory-friendly features have been crucial components to this project, supporting neurodiversity and offering safe spaces that allow for various learning styles to be included in the curriculum.

Community Involvement
With the creation of the Discovery Den, neighborhood volunteers through FulfillNJ, NJ Ag in the Classroom, and SLH Seniors Community will be welcomed to aid children in developing a connection to gardening. Additionally, Spring Lake Heights Middle School STREAM students will leave their mark by designing and constructing additional sensory panels for the Den, allowing them to develop their own engineering design skills while creating a beneficial learning environment for young students as well as teachers. The impact of the Discovery Den across generations makes it an incredible, unique project that will be transformative for education systems as they evolve to focus on inspiring student well-being and mindfulness alongside academic growth. In doing so, school environments evolve from static containers of instruction into living ecosystems of growth.

Growth in Education Design
Spring Lake Heights’ Discovery Den is more than just a new space; it is a bold statement about how education can grow when students, teachers, and the community work together with nature. By moving beyond the traditional four walls classroom and inviting hands-on experiences, the Discovery Den will help students become more engaged, emotionally resilient, and connected to each other and to the environment. With careful design that supports flexibility, safety, inclusion, and ecological learning, this outdoor classroom will become a living, breathing part of the school. The involvement of parents, volunteers, and older students in planting gardens, building, and maintaining the space ensures that the Discovery Den will be woven into the community. In doing so, Spring Lake Heights is planting seeds—not just in the garden, but in young minds—for curiosity, well-being, and a sense that learning is everywhere.

¹ https://outdoorclassroomday.com/resource/muddy-hands-report/