Spending quality time outdoors has a profound benefit on children’s development from a young age.
Children experience freedom when they connect with nature, helping them to develop independence, self-confidence and self-esteem. Outdoor learning enables children to try new activities, engage with others, solve problems, make friends and build resilience.
Natural Thinkers is a programme that supports early years practitioners and primary school teachers in connecting children to nature.
What is the Natural Thinkers approach?
The programme is different as it builds upon a framework around what settings and schools are already delivering as part of the curriculum.
Natural Thinkers concentrates on areas that lend themselves to outdoor learning, such as STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and maths), climate change and well-being.
Through accessible low cost or no cost activities early years practitioners and teachers can feel empowered to connect children to nature using a whole-school approach from EYFS to Key stage 2.

What do we do to make teachers feel confident in the outdoors?
- Demonstrate how to teach all areas of the curriculum outdoors while improving learning outcomes for all
- Use our 10 Commitments framework to support teachers in developing their practice
- Explore the perceived obstacles to providing high quality learning outdoors and provide solutions
- Examine the need for challenge and risk in children’s play and how it can be assessed
- Take into account the benefits of risk so that you can create more balanced approaches when teaching and learning outdoors
Enable parents, carers, practitioners, and the community to take children to the park and green spaces within their local area.
How was Natural Thinkers developed?
Natural Thinkers was developed by Early Years Consultants Jacqui McDermid and Jo Gordon in Lambeth, London. A significant driver behind the development of the programme was the decline in access to green space, especially in urban areas. Natural Thinkers was delivered through Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) as part of the National Lottery Community Fund’s A Better Start initiative.
Discover more about Natural Thinkers
LEAP wrote a short report reviewing available evidence on the delivery and impact of the Natural Thinkers intervention. The report describes what has been delivered; how well services have been received; and what evidence exists to support the case that Natural Thinkers has had a positive impact on the development of the communication and language skills in pre-school children.
Read the Natural Thinkers evaluation report
Recent Projects
Over 600 practitioners and teachers have been trained in Natural Thinkers in over 100 settings and schools across 15 Local Authorities. The programme has also been delivered to a number of community groups.
Natural Thinkers in your area
We offer training courses and consultancy packages to new areas that would like to be a part of Natural Thinkers.
Contact
For further information on Natural Thinkers, please contact [email protected]