I initially just wanted to show that outdoor spaces are not an optional extra. They can be powerful, inclusive and sustainable learning environments, especially where conventional resources or buildings are limited — unleashing rich learning from the world already around us.
I almost stumbled upon the real power of play: its ability to excite and motivate pupils, and to become an engine driving learning forward. I want to show that play and learning do not have to be separate. When children are building, testing, exploring, role-playing and solving problems together, they are often learning more deeply because they are fully involved.
A team structure is central to this. Children work together, explain ideas, test strategies, support each other and learn from one another, so peer-to-peer learning becomes part of every activity.
In practice, Adventure Learning looks like public spaces coming alive with children learning and playing. Parks, school grounds, playgrounds, funfairs and local landmarks become temporary classrooms, full of movement, teamwork, discussion and problem-solving.
Open spaces become giant game boards for decimal and fraction snakes and ladders. Children create, test and dismantle bamboo structures and sculptures, exploring shape, stability, measure and design. A field can become a launch area for fair-testing kite designs, while a slope can become a place to investigate forces, gradients and motion.
Children work in teams: building, role-playing, navigating, mapping, fair testing, adapting and explaining their thinking to each other. One group might be Roman engineers setting out roads and bridges; another might be scientists testing materials or kite designs; another might use compass directions and maps to complete a rescue challenge.
Often bring their parents back afterwards to show where they built their tower, completed their challenge, flew their kite or crossed their imaginary river. Learning is placed at heart of community.
The approach harnesses what is already available locally: sticks, leaves, slopes, water, playground equipment, paths, railings, funfairs, heritage features and open space.
More recently, I joined the International Network for Education in Emergencies. I have been donating session outlines to INEE’s Learning Through Play in Emergencies Initiative and will be taking part in teacher training workshops, to explore how low-cost, adaptable, hands-on curriculum activities could support learners in emergency and low-resource contexts.
In the UK, Adventure Learning is spreading first by example. Teachers and teaching assistants join in to support sessions, seeing how ordinary outdoor spaces can become active classrooms and how curriculum learning can be delivered through play, teamwork and practical challenge.
It also spreads through public family events. Children and parents have worked together to build giant marble runs, sometimes stretching hundreds of metres, and bamboo structures that become moving contraptions with the addition of pulleys, ropes and simple mechanisms. These events help families see that learning can happen through making, testing, adapting and playing together.
The approach is also spreading through teacher development. Student teachers from UCL Institute of Education have observed sessions in practice, helping introduce the model to future teachers.
I am constantly modifying and adding to Adventure Learning. The programme has grown through practice, observation and feedback — from teachers, teaching assistants and, most importantly, from pupils themselves.
I work in a way that is close to assessment for learning, creating a continuous feedback loop during each session. I watch what excites pupils, where they struggle, how teams collaborate, which instructions are clear, and which activities create the strongest learning. I then adapt the task, timing, materials or level of challenge.
Sometimes this means simplifying an activity so children can get started more quickly. Sometimes it means adding challenge for older pupils, strengthening curriculum links, or changing the resources so the same idea can work in a different park, playground or school ground.
I think this adaptability is also why the approach could be of real benefit in emergency and low-resource contexts. It is not dependent on fixed equipment or a particular setting. The core idea is to adapt the learning to harness what is available — sticks, stones, bottles, slopes, open space, local stories, children’s movement and imagination.
Adventure Learning is not a fixed package. It is a living, responsive approach that keeps improving as children play, test, build, explain, reflect and learn.
Make a target using whatever you have: a row of straight sticks pushed upright into the ground, chalk circles on tarmac, stones placed in circles, hoops, bottles or cones. Give each stick, circle or target a place value — starting with 1s, 10s and 100s, and extending to 1,000s, 10,000s or even millions for older pupils.
Put down a throwing line a few feet away. Now imagine you are in Year 2. Give yourself a number up to 100, such as 47, and try to throw objects into the correct targets: 4 throws into the 10s and 7 throws into the 1s. If you get it right, move to another row of targets and try a new number. Each correct answer takes you further along the challenge.
Then imagine you are in Year 3. This time, give yourself an addition problem to throw, such as 34 + 25. First throw the first number, then throw the second number, then add up the throws in each place value target to work out and present your answer.
The same game can be made easier or harder by changing the numbers, adding more place value columns, increasing the distance from the throwing line, or asking pupils to explain their answer to a partner.
