Educational Programs

Teaching Sustainability

START Metric #7:

Outdoor Learning Environments

Guides & Resources

‘How To’ Guides

  • Schoolyard Habitats Guide

    From NWS, a guide to planning, designing, building & maintaining a native schoolyard habitat.

  • How to Create a School Garden

    From the GSA, a guide to creating a school garden, from securing permission to location considerations, maintenance & student engagement.

  • A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms

    From Ecoliteracy, a guide to selecting & preparing a site for outdoor learning, design-considerations, fundraising & maintenance.

  • A Guide to Greening School Grounds

    From Ontario EcoSchools, a guide to starting points, rain gardens, pollinator gardens & food gardens, with curriculum integration ideas.

  • Outdoor Learning Toolkit

    From the National Wildlife Federation, a toolkit to help you select a site, set up outdoor classroom infrastructure, & manage lessons & safety. Includes case studies.


 Contact us at guides@greenschoolsalliance.org if:

  • You have a free resource to contribute or recommend that can help schools take action around this specific sustainability metric.

  • You authored a guide included here and have information about the Cost, Difficulty or Impact rating.