Learning doesn't just have to happen indoors! In fact, lots of learning can happen outdoors, and students love it! But did you know how easy it is to create a tote full of educational materials so that you're always ready? That's right! These bags can quickly and easily be customized to coordinate with the day's events or current topics of study.
I love taking my students into our outdoor classroom for learning fun! It cuts down on our learning time outdoors when we have to spend time indoors collecting all of our materials, not to mention, the long walk to the outdoor classroom carrying all those supplies! Not anymore! These super quick and easy outdoor learning bags will help us get back that precious time and help us carry all of our materials.
I'm able to customize these bags in a short amount of time with the necessary materials for that day's outdoor learning. On this particular day, we were studying the birds in our area and any bugs or other insects that we found in our outdoor classroom. Students were working on sketching those birds and insects in their science notebooks as we learned how to draw with details. I included a pair of DIY Binoculars in each bag and a pair of Going Buggy Bug Tongs. Each of my students gets to decorate their own pair of DIY Binoculars! They love making them their own with markers and crayons (even foam stickers work well for decorating!) and can pick them out quickly because they remember their design. With another group of students, I had them take a marker with us on our outdoor learning day. They decorated their binoculars with words describing what they saw while outside.
The Going Buggy Tongs are perfect for picking up critters we find and want to scoop up for further study! My most squeamish of students can easily scoop up bugs and insects without touching them and be able to be up close so they can draw what they see.
In our bags we added science notebooks, a clipboard, and a pencil. My students were easily able to carry the tote bags on their shoulders, eliminating our previous problems with carrying all of our supplies. I also quickly discovered that with all the different color options in the Tote Bag Assortment, I could assign students to groups based on the color of their bags. My students were quickly able to locate their group members, unload all their supplies and get right to work. Several of my students used their tote bags as mats to sit on!
To make it easy for us to grab what we need and go, we store our tote bags in the Clipboard Storage rack! What a time saver this has been! I keep the clipboards in the tote bags at all times and when we are ready to go outside, each student grabs a bag, places their science notebook inside and then helps load in that day's extra supplies! There is plenty of extra room in the tote bags, so we can collect artifacts from outside that we want to bring in to check out indoors.
To make our tote bags a little more special, I gave them to our 4th grade book buddies and they decorated the tote bags for us with quotes they found about nature, the earth, and all things related to the outdoors! Some permanent markers make decorating quick and easy for them and (as you can tell!) the 4th graders put in tons of effort to making our tote bags extra special! These are just a few of the designs they made for us.
We've added other supplies to our bags depending upon what we need:
- markers/colored pencils
- magnifying glasses
- crayons
- Super Science Test Tubes
- DIY Aprons
These tote bags are super easy to take on field trips too! I just add a recording sheet to the clipboard and my students are ready to take notes and collect information about their field trip. What else would you add to these outdoor learning bags?
