At Meadowlark Schools' Brookside Stockton campus, we've created an extraordinary outdoor classroom where children's learning blooms naturally through exploration, discovery, and meaningful connection with the natural world. Our thoughtfully designed outdoor spaces transform everyday moments into powerful learning experiences that engage all the senses and support whole-child development.
Our Brookside Outdoor Learning Environment
Our learning environment reflects our belief that children are inherently curious, seek relationships with others, and construct their knowledge and understanding of the world through their active engagement with their environment and the people, materials, and experiences within it.
The Brookside campus outdoor classroom features carefully designed spaces that invite exploration while providing rich opportunities for cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development.
Natural Playspaces That Inspire Learning
Our thoughtfully designed Brookside campus includes natural playspaces featuring natural elements like logs, stones, hills, and native plants that invite exploration and imaginative play. These elements aren't just aesthetically pleasing—they're intentionally arranged to encourage different types of play and learning:
- Adventure Zone: Natural climbing features, balance logs, and hills that develop gross motor skills, risk assessment, and confidence
- Sensory Garden: Native plants with diverse textures, scents, and colors that engage children's senses and introduce botanical concepts
- Building Area: Natural loose parts like branches, stones, and seed pods for engineering and construction projects
- Mud Kitchen: An outdoor cooking station where children explore properties of materials, practice dramatic play, and develop pre-scientific thinking
- Discovery Corner: Magnifying glasses, collection baskets, and observation tools for scientific investigation
- Gathering Circle: A communal space for stories, discussions, and group activities under the open sky
- Garden Beds: Child-sized garden plots where children grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers while learning about life cycles and food systems
Read our article, Why Nature-Based Learning Matters, for more in depth information on why this is so important.
Seasonal Learning Opportunities
At Meadowlark, children spend significant time outdoors in all seasons, regardless of weather conditions. They learn to dress appropriately for different conditions and develop resilience through experiencing the changing seasons firsthand.
Our Brookside outdoor classroom becomes a dynamic learning environment that changes with the seasons, offering unique opportunities throughout the year:
Spring (March-May)
- Observing plant growth and spring awakening
- Planting seeds and discussing life cycles
- Tracking rainfall and creating weather journals
- Studying insects as they emerge
- Creating natural art with spring blossoms
Summer (June-August)
- Water exploration and scientific properties of liquids
- Harvesting from the garden and preparing fresh snacks
- Creating shade structures and discussing sun protection
- Building outdoor structures with natural materials
- Extended outdoor storytelling and literacy activities
Fall (September-November)
- Collecting and classifying leaves, nuts, and seeds
- Observing migration patterns of birds
- Preparing garden beds for winter
- Creating autumn art with natural materials
- Exploring concepts of decay and decomposition
Winter (December-February)
- Studying animal tracks and winter adaptations
- Observing weather patterns and precipitation
- Caring for birds through feeding stations
- Building outdoor shelters and discussing insulation
- Exploring properties of ice and snow
The Educational Benefits of Outdoor Learning
Research consistently demonstrates the powerful impact of nature-based education on children's development. At our Brookside campus, children experience these benefits daily through our comprehensive outdoor program.
Physical Development Benefits
Navigating natural terrains develops strength, balance, coordination, and spatial awareness. When children are allowed to run, jump, climb, and engage in "risky play" (age-appropriate challenges like climbing, balancing, and using real tools with supervision), they develop confidence, coordination, and risk assessment skills that serve them throughout life.
Our outdoor classroom provides:
- Varied terrain that develops different muscle groups
- Opportunities for appropriate risk-taking that build confidence
- Activities that develop both fine and gross motor skills
- Space for vigorous physical play that supports healthy development
- Natural challenges that children can gradually master
Cognitive Development Benefits
Nature offers rich, varied sensory experiences that help children refine their senses. Natural environments offer endless possibilities for open-ended play and exploration that manufactured playgrounds simply cannot match.
Outdoor learning supports cognitive growth through:
- Real-world contexts for mathematical concepts (measuring, counting, sorting)
- Scientific inquiry through direct observation and experimentation
- Problem-solving through authentic challenges
- Developing focus and attention through engaging experiences
- Building vocabulary through rich sensory experiences
Social-Emotional Development Benefits
Time in nature has been shown to reduce stress hormones and improve mood. Natural settings provide opportunities for children to evaluate and manage appropriate risks.
Our outdoor classroom fosters:
- Emotional regulation through calming natural environments
- Cooperation through group projects and shared discoveries
- Empathy through caring for plants and animals
- Resilience through facing and overcoming challenges
- Confidence through mastering new skills in natural settings
Creative Development Benefits
The natural world is an unparalleled catalyst for creativity and imagination. Our outdoor classroom:
- Provides open-ended materials that can become anything in play
- Inspires storytelling and dramatic play in natural settings
- Encourages artistic expression using natural materials
- Develops flexible thinking through ever-changing environments
- Supports language development through rich descriptive opportunities
How Our Outdoor Classroom Differs from Traditional Preschools
While many preschools offer some outdoor time, our Brookside campus takes nature-based education to an entirely different level:
More Than Just "Recess"
Children at Meadowlark learn to notice seasonal changes, identify local plants and animals, understand weather patterns, and develop a sense of stewardship for the natural world. We embrace the concept of "risky play"—activities that involve an element of risk that children learn to manage. This might include climbing trees, balancing on logs, jumping from heights, or using real tools under supervision.
Our outdoor time isn't a break from learning—it's where some of our richest learning happens. Teachers are actively engaged in facilitating discoveries, extending thinking, and documenting learning that occurs outdoors.
All-Weather Philosophy
At Meadowlark, children spend significant time outdoors in all seasons, regardless of weather conditions. They learn to dress appropriately for different conditions and develop resilience through experiencing the changing seasons firsthand.
We embrace the Scandinavian saying: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing." Children at our Brookside campus experience the joy of puddle-jumping after rain, the wonder of fog-shrouded mornings, and the exhilaration of crisp winter days.
Integrated Indoor/Outdoor Curriculum
Unlike programs where outdoor and indoor learning are separate, our curriculum flows seamlessly between environments:
- Discoveries made outdoors are brought inside for further investigation
- Books and materials indoors inspire outdoor exploration
- Documentation of outdoor learning adorns our indoor spaces
- Natural materials from outside become part of indoor creative projects
Extended Outdoor Learning Periods
At Meadowlark, children play outside in various weather conditions, connecting with nature's cycles and developing resilience. This approach helps them expend energy in healthy ways, leading to better focus, improved behavior, and more successful rest times.
Rather than brief outdoor breaks, children at our Brookside campus spend substantial portions of each day outside, allowing for deeper engagement, more complex play scenarios, and the development of sustained investigation skills.
Our Teachers' Approach to Outdoor Learning
Our educators at the Brookside campus are specially trained in nature-based education. They understand how to:
- Recognize and extend learning opportunities that arise naturally outdoors
- Balance active facilitation with allowing child-directed discovery
- Document learning that happens through play and exploration
- Ensure safety while encouraging appropriate risk-taking
- Connect outdoor experiences to key developmental domains
Teachers at Meadowlark are unique individuals who have a profound love and respect for both child and nature. We are committed to your children's care.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do children learn academic skills in an outdoor classroom?
Academic concepts are naturally embedded in outdoor experiences. Children develop pre-literacy skills through storytelling and nature journals, mathematical thinking through collecting and sorting natural objects, and scientific understanding through direct observation and experimentation with natural materials.
What happens in inclement weather?
At Meadowlark, children spend significant time outdoors in all seasons, regardless of weather conditions. They learn to dress appropriately for different conditions and develop resilience through experiencing the changing seasons firsthand. During extreme weather events (thunderstorms, dangerous winds, or unhealthy air quality), we modify our schedule while still maintaining our connection to nature through indoor nature-based activities.
How do you ensure children's safety outdoors?
Safety is always our priority. Our teachers are trained in outdoor supervision and first aid. We teach children to assess and manage appropriate risks, set clear boundaries, and maintain lower teacher-to-child ratios during outdoor learning. Our spaces are regularly inspected for hazards while preserving the natural challenges that support development.
What should my child wear for outdoor learning?
We provide detailed guidance for weather-appropriate clothing by season. Generally, we recommend layers, closed-toe shoes, and weather-specific items like rain boots, waterproof outerwear, sun hats, or warm winter gear depending on the season. We maintain a supply of extra outdoor gear for children who need it.
How do you document learning that happens outdoors?
Our teachers use digital documentation, learning stories, photos, and children's work samples to capture the rich learning that happens in our outdoor classroom. This documentation is shared with families through our online portal, displayed in our indoor environment, and discussed during family conferences.
Do children still have indoor classroom time?
Yes, children experience a balanced day that includes both indoor and outdoor learning environments. Our indoor spaces complement and extend outdoor discoveries, providing opportunities for reflection, representation, and deeper investigation of concepts encountered outside.
Experience Our Brookside Outdoor Classroom
We invite you to see our extraordinary outdoor learning environment in person. Schedule a tour of our Brookside campus to witness children engaged in joyful, meaningful learning in nature.
Learn more about our nature-based educational approach and how it supports your child's development.