It’s no secret that I am a huge believer in outdoor learning — and always have been.
During my teaching career, I was Outdoor Learning Lead in my school. Throughout the COVID lockdowns, I led weekly outdoor sessions for vulnerable children in our school community. Post-COVID, I established and ran an outdoor classroom, and I also chose fully outdoor nurseries for both of my own children.
So it probably won’t surprise you that, as owner of Boogie Beat Edinburgh and East Lothian, I am completely pro-outdoors.
In several of our nursery settings, Boogie Beat is delivered entirely outdoors — and it works beautifully.
Many settings have a small sheltered area for particularly torrential weather, but the truth is — most Scottish weather is absolutely fine when children are dressed appropriately. A puddle suit and wellies solve most things!
Today, I’ve just finished an outdoor session at a nursery in Edinburgh who would normally host us indoors. After gently encouraging the team to trial taking Boogie Beat outside, they’re now beginning to see the difference it makes.
So why does outdoor learning matter so much?
- Freedom of Movement = Regulation & Expression
Boogie Beat is built on music, movement and imaginative storytelling. We want children to be expressive. We want them to stomp like trolls, stretch like giants, tiptoe like fairies and gallop like horses.
Outdoors, that movement is not inhibited.
Children can make big, exaggerated gross motor movements without worrying about bumping into tables or walls. They can use their whole bodies freely. That deep pressure input from stamping, jumping and balancing gives essential sensory feedback — and it regulates.
Interestingly, ten minutes of “stomping like a troll” during a story often results in a calmer, more focused child afterwards. It doesn’t dysregulate — it supports nervous system regulation.
As the Curriculum for Excellence (Scotland) reminds us:
“The outdoor environment offers motivating, exciting, different, relevant and easily accessible activities from pre-school years through to senior phases.”
— Curriculum for Excellence through Outdoor Learning
When children have space, their creativity expands with it.
- Sound Feels Different Outside
This one is particularly personal for me.
Indoor spaces amplify sound. It literally bounces off walls and ceilings. For sound-sensitive children (and adults!), this can feel overwhelming. Most nursery buildings were not designed with concert-hall acoustics in mind.
Outdoors, sound has somewhere to go.
Music feels calmer. Singing feels softer. The overall sensory load is reduced. The same joyful session — but with a more regulated auditory experience.
For children who are sensitive to noise, this can be transformative.
- Fresh Air Is Powerful
It sounds simple — but fresh air matters.
In busy nursery environments, stepping outside provides a pause. A reset. A breath.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (England) states:
“Children must be provided with opportunities to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control and movement.”
— EYFS Statutory Framework
Outdoor sessions naturally allow this to happen more freely and authentically.
There is something about being outside that lifts energy while simultaneously calming the system.
- Real-World Balancing & Physical Development
In today’s outdoor session, we were exploring balancing as part of our story.
Balancing feeds directly into core strength and fine motor development — both crucial foundations for writing readiness and starting school.
Outdoors, balancing becomes real.
There are slopes. Uneven ground. Logs. Lines in the pavement. Natural obstacles to navigate.
This is the real world our children live in. Giving them opportunities to practise movement skills in authentic environments builds confidence, resilience and coordination in a way flat indoor floors simply cannot.
- Imagination Thrives Outside
When we tell stories outdoors, something shifts.
The wind becomes part of the story. A tree becomes the giant’s castle. A stick becomes a magic wand. The sky becomes the setting.
Children’s imaginative capacity deepens because the environment is dynamic and alive.
And Boogie Beat is, at its heart, about imagination.
If You Can, Go Outside
Outdoor learning doesn’t need to be complicated.
It needs:
- Appropriate clothing
- A willingness to try
- And a belief that children are capable
At Boogie Beat Edinburgh and East Lothian, we are more than happy to deliver sessions outdoors. In fact, we love it.
Because when children have space to move, breathe, imagine and explore — magic happens.
Written by Mairi Curle, Owner of Boogie Beat Edinburgh, Mid and East Lothian.
If you’d like to discuss bringing Boogie Beat to your setting, please get in touch with Hannah at Head Office.