Outdoor Learning

Green Schoolyards America* seeks to transform asphalt-covered school grounds into park-like green spaces that improve children’s well-being, learning, and play while contributing to the ecological health and resilience of our cities. We are working to change the norm for school ground design, use, and management so that all children will have access to the natural world in the places they already visit on a daily basis.

*Special note: In Spring 2020, this organization co-founded the National Outdoor Learning Initiative, to support educators to adapt resources for outdoor learning to meet the safety regulations for COVID-19.

The mission of the Edible Schoolyard Project is to build and share a national edible education curriculum for pre-kindergarten through high school. Edible education connects the experience of school to the real, lived experience of our students. It prioritizes access to the healthy food that underpins all other efforts to give children a strong start at school and in life.

The Outdoor Classroom Project (OCP) is dedicated to increasing the quantity, quality, and benefit of outdoor experiences for children in early care and education programs through providing educational and consulting services on the value and design of engaging outdoor learning environments to teachers, administrators, and parents. While their facilities serve the LA region, throughout California and beyond, an additional 3,900 centers and 10,100 educators have been benefiting from the Outdoor Classroom Project’s consulting and educational services.

The Youth Outdoor Policy Partnership is a collaboration of leading national organizations working across sectors to ensure that all children have access to high quality outdoor experiences and environmental education. They have come together to advance state-level policies that support getting kids outside everywhere they live, learn, work and play. This group has developed a Youth Outdoor Policy Playbook, which is designed to:

• Highlight existing and promising policy solutions for driving youth outdoor engagement.

• Share the knowledge and experience of environmental education and outdoor engagement champions to drive new, innovative ideas.

• Connect cross sector leaders working on statewide policy initiatives.

Children & Nature Network is leading a global movement to increase equitable access to nature so that children– and natural places–can thrive.​ ​We ​do this ​by investing in leadership and communities through sharing evidence-based resources, scaling innovative solutions and driving policy change.

Rethink Outside is a call to action for all who believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to enjoy time outdoors, because when people connect with nature we all benefit. To increase equitable access to the benefits of time spent in nature, and to bring more resources and more action to advancing this work, Blue Sky Funders Forum partnered with funders, practitioners, and researchers to craft a shared narrative to rethink how people think about and prioritize the outdoors and its benefits. This new narrative moves the vital work of connecting people with the outdoors from a ‘nice to have’ to an absolute necessity.