Ever notice how students light up when they step outside? Whether it’s the fresh air, the open space, or the chance to move freely, nature has a way of awakening curiosity, deepening learning, and sparking joy. Learning in nature boosts engagement and supports both mental and physical health. It’s like a chance to “refuel in flight.”
At Solano County Office of Education (SCOE), we believe outdoor learning is a powerful tool for learning, wellness, inclusion of students with all abilities, and providing an overall well-rounded, high-quality education. By connecting students to the natural world, we help spark curiosity, deepen understanding, and promote real-world learning across subjects. Nature invites hands-on science, nature-inspired art, real-world math opportunities, experiences for meaningful storytelling, and more! It builds connection—to place, to community, and to self.
Our work aligns with Ten Strands’ Campaign for Outdoor Learning, which highlights decades of research showing the many benefits of time outdoors—especially for children. Lisette Estrella-Henderson, superintendent of schools for Solano County, shares, “Every county office of education in California has unique opportunities to support outdoor learning. Here in Solano County, we’re embracing those opportunities through educator training, student programs, campus improvements, and community partnerships. Our hope is that our efforts inspire others to lead, collaborate, and step outside with students to explore the world around them.”
Learning Outside the Box: Empowering Early Learning Educators Through Nature-Based Education
The Learning Outside the Box series is rooted in the belief that nature is a powerful teacher. Through hands-on activities and a multidisciplinary approach, early learning educators explore how outdoor spaces can be used as dynamic extensions of the classroom. This professional learning series is intentionally designed to be outside for a portion of the training.
This year, we piloted a three-part series where educators gained practical tools and strategies to weave literacy, science, social studies, math, art, and music into engaging, nature-based learning experiences for young children in early learning programs. The series emphasized creating rich, sensory learning opportunities using natural materials—encouraging exploration through the five senses. Educators discovered how to support language development, spark scientific and mathematical thinking, and inspire creativity through the use of loose parts found in nature. Participants received an activity guide with a year’s worth of nature-based lessons for their youngest learners, generously donated by Project Learning Tree.
The response from participants was overwhelmingly positive. Educators left feeling refreshed, motivated, and ready to reimagine their outdoor environments as spaces for exploration and growth. As one participant shared, “This renewed my heart.” Another reflected, “Loved going out into nature!”
We are proud to support educators in making learning engaging, inclusive, and connected to the natural world. Learning Outside the Box is just one of the many ways we are working together to inspire innovative teaching and learning.
Grow, Sauté, Thrive: A Culinary and Garden Learning Experience
The Youth Wellness Program at Golden Hills Education Center, in partnership with Sustainable Solano, supports continuation high school and adult special education students through hands-on culinary and gardening experiences. Students develop academic, life, and career skills, while learning about sustainable food systems and wellness.
Students helped build—literally—their school community garden on campus and participated in meal preparation activities. Sustainable Solano provided fresh ingredients for the cooking days and produce boxes from local farmers for students to share with their families, continuing the learning at home. Students have also visited local farms to explore agricultural connections and the use of herbs in cooking and wellness as well as animal care. This program promotes student engagement, career readiness, and community resilience, while deepening students’ understanding of food, sustainability, and health.
SCOE has consistently supported outdoor learning through campus gardens, including the one at Fairfield-Suisun Adult School. These school-based gardens promote healthy eating, encourage teamwork, and build student responsibility. Additionally, they also provide educators with an outdoor classroom—an extension of their indoor space—where they can deliver hands-on, experiential lessons.
As outdoor learning labs, gardens allow students to explore subjects like biology and ecology and observe how seasonal changes and weather affect plant growth. Classrooms harvest fruits and vegetables from the garden to host meals and celebrations, including special events around the holidays, enriching both learning and community.
Outdoor Science in Action: Enhancing Learning Through the City Nature Challenge and Bioblitz Events
The City Nature Challenge is a global bioblitz event that invites participants to document urban plants and wildlife, contributing to a global biodiversity database. This initiative promotes collaboration, community science, and a deeper understanding of local ecosystems. SCOE offered environmental educators and community partners an outdoor learning experience at the Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space Park in Fairfield, the newest fifteen-hundred-acre property to be protected by the Solano Land Trust. Following the event, participants gathered to discuss how it could enhance outdoor learning in science, math, data analysis, community building, and environmental education.
Supported by the California Academy of Sciences, this collaboration bolstered environmental education in Solano County and provided valuable outdoor professional learning and networking opportunities.
At the Solano STEAM Discovery Festival, SCOE environmental literacy staff hosted three mini bioblitz events at Solano Community College, modeled after the City Nature Challenge. These family-friendly events encourage Solano County residents to use pocket technology (iNaturalist app) to document local biodiversity through a fun, friendly competition. The goal is to raise awareness of and document nature under our noses, helping participants recognize and appreciate the natural world around them.
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Swimming Upstream: Students Dive Into Real-World Salmon Research
Through the Spinning Salmon citizen science research project, high school teachers and students step into the scientist role, engaging in real-world investigations that connect classroom learning to the living landscape around them. In collaboration with partners like National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science, this program brings science to life in powerful, hands-on ways.
Students participate in classroom learning and outdoor field experiences that weave together watershed science, environmental stewardship, data collection, and research practices. Connecting with university researchers in the field, students observe their fish, monitor the water temperature, and submit their classroom data to researchers to help determine what may be causing young salmon to swim in corkscrew patterns at an unusually high rate, eventually dying. These experiences and field trips not only build environmental literacy, they spark curiosity, foster a sense of responsibility and agency, and empower students to be thoughtful caretakers of our natural resources.
: From early learning and hands-on gardening to citizen-science research partnerships, these experiences showcase the power of the outdoors to foster learning, connection, and joy—for all students! Stay tuned for Part 2, where we feature how we collaborate with our educational partners to support outdoor learning for Solano County students, as we hope to inspire you to consider what community resources you have to bring learning alive, outside!
