Outdoor Learning Conference 2026

Imagine a schoolyard or campus where nature thrives, where a once overlooked corner becomes a space that sparks curiosity, supports local biodiversity, and inspires outdoor learning every day. Living corners are intentionally designed pockets of nature that transform underused areas into inviting outdoor learning spaces that promote and support biodiversity. In this hands-on workshop, participants step into the role of designer, working in teams to sketch and create their own living corner for nature using concepts learned from the conference and ideas shared during the workshop’s guided storytelling activity. This workshop will be organized as a friendly design challenge, with opportunity for teams to share back designs, sparking ideas for small-scale restoration at schools and in communities. Participants will leave with practical tools and resources to bring their design to life, and a design challenge framework they can implement with youth to foster nature connection.

This hands-on, outdoor workshop invites participants to explore the forest through sight, smell, touch, and sound. We’ll take part in a series of simple, adaptable sensory activities that help students slow down, notice details and connect with the natural world.
Each activity encourages observation, curiosity and a sense of wonder—skills that are at the heart of meaningful outdoor learning. We’ve played these games and activities with people of all ages, from young students to adults, and they never fail to engage learners.
Come ready to participate and gather practical ideas you can easily bring back to your own outdoor programs or classrooms. These activities are low-prep, flexible, and designed to help learners build stronger connections with nature—one sense at a time.

Join Wildsight educator Jill Jennings to learn practical ways to connect early literacy with outdoor, play-based learning by using the seasons as a natural guide. We’ll look at how simple props, storytelling routines, and seasonal books can bring nature into your program and support language development in meaningful, engaging ways. Through hands-on activities and examples from outdoor practice, participants will learn strategies for creating consistent outdoor learning routines that nurture curiosity, care, and connection to place. You’ll leave with adaptable ideas for weaving story, play, and seasonal exploration into everyday learning, along with the confidence to follow children’s interests as they engage with their “wild backyards” throughout the year.

Join Wildsight Education for a hands-on, hope-filled workshop that brings climate learning to life outdoors. Explore classroom-tested activities from the FutureMakers and Beyond Recycling programs that help students understand climate indicators, the greenhouse effect, and real-world solutions through local, place-based learning. Discover how sustainable design challenges and storytelling can empower students to move from climate anxiety to agency and action. Participants will gain practical tools to integrate climate and sustainability learning across Science, Social Studies, and Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies. Leave inspired—with ready-to-use resources and a complimentary two-year subscription to the FutureMakers online teacher program.