Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge

The Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge is a year-long invitation for educators across North America to make outdoor learning a regular part of their practice.

By registering, you commit to taking your learners outside for learning at least once a week from September to June. Whether you're just beginning your outdoor learning journey or already learning outside regularly, the Challenge is designed to inspire, support, and celebrate outdoor learning throughout the school year.

Outdoor learning helps bring curriculum to life while supporting learner engagement, wellbeing, curiosity, environmental stewardship, and connection to community. Best of all, outdoor learning can happen almost anywhere—from schoolyards and neighbourhoods to parks, gardens, and natural spaces.

Who Can Participate?

The Learning Challenge is open to educators and learners of all ages and settings, including:

Elementary and secondary schools
Early learning and childcare programs
Homeschool educators and learning groups
Outdoor education programs
Community and non-profit organizations that support learning

Whether you work with one group of learners or an entire school, everyone is welcome.

Why Join the Learning Challenge?

When you register, you'll become part of a growing community of educators committed to making outdoor learning a regular part of education.

Participants receive:

Monthly outdoor learning inspiration and curriculum-connected resources
Seasonal newsletters featuring activities and ideas for the changing seasons
Access to virtual gatherings and professional learning opportunities
20% off Take Me Outside apparel and 5% off purchases at the Outdoor Learning School & Store
Monthly opportunities to win prizes for you and your learners
A certificate of participation
Opportunities to connect with and learn from educators across North America
NEW! A free hybrid indoor/outdoor freshwater learning opportunity through Living Lakes Canada, culminating in a national Pen Pals exchange

Help Us Reach 10 Million Hours Outside

Together, our goal is to reach 10 million hours of outdoor learning during the 2026-2027 school year. Each month, we automatically count one hour per learner per week for all registered participants. Spending more than an hour a week outside? Submit your additional hours to help us get closer to our goal, earn a spot on the Outdoor Learning Leaderboard, and gain additional chances to win prizes throughout the year.

How to Participate

Register

Take Learning Outside

Commit to spending at least one hour per week learning outdoors with your learners. Outdoor learning can include curriculum lessons, inquiry projects, nature observations, outdoor reading and writing, field investigations, community exploration, and much more.

Track & Share Your Experiences

Help inspire other educators by sharing your outdoor learning journey throughout the year.

Submit your additional outdoor learning hours, photos, stories, and reflections to help us celebrate outdoor learning across North America.

New this year! Each month, we'll invite participants to submit outdoor learning lesson plans connected to the monthly theme. Selected lesson plans will be featured in our monthly newsletter, and the educators who create them will receive a prize in recognition of their contribution.

By sharing your ideas and experiences, you'll help grow a collection of practical outdoor learning activities that can inspire educators and learners across the continent.

Connect & Inspire Others

Invite colleagues, schools, and communities to participate. Together, we can help make outdoor learning a regular and meaningful part of education for every learner.

Registration

2026-2027 Learning Challenge Registration Form

Before you begin: If you are registering multiple educators, please be prepared to provide the requested information for each participating educator. We collect individual educator information to support communications, participation tracking, prize draws, and impact reporting. If you would prefer not to register educators on their behalf, please share the registration link with them so they can register directly.

Name(Required)

First Last

Email(Required)

Enter Email Confirm Email

Your school board (if applicable)

Before You Begin

Please select the option that matches the number of educators you are registering on behalf of.

If you select "1 Educator," you will provide information only for yourself and can include one or more classes/groups of learners/students that you personally teach or lead.

If you select "2–10 Educators," "10+ Educators," or "Entire School/Organization," you will be asked to provide information for each participating educator, including their name, email address, and learner/student information.

For example:

One educator with 60 learners across multiple classes/groups = 1 Educator (complete one line for each individual class/group)
Five educators participating with their own classes or groups = 2–10 Educators (complete one line for each educator's individual class/group and include that educator's information)
An entire school or organization registering multiple staff members = Entire School/Organization

Important: If you do not have the information for all participating educators, please ask them to complete their own registration. Collecting individual educator information helps us communicate directly with participants, track participation accurately, administer prize draws, and measure the impact of the campaign.

How many educators are you registering for the Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge?(Required)

Select the option that best describes the number of educators participating. Educators can be from schools, childcare centres, homeschool groups, outdoor education programs, community organizations, and other learning settings.

1 Educator (e.g., one classroom, daycare group, homeschool group, outdoor education group, etc.)

2–10 educators (e.g., a grade team, childcare centre staff, homeschool co-op, department, or teaching team)

10+ educators (e.g., a division, department, multiple classrooms, multiple programs, or a large organization)

Entire School/organization (e.g., school, childcare centre, community organization, or other learning setting)

Registering Multiple Classes?

If you're registering multiple educators, an entire school/organization, or a school board, download the group registration template below. Complete one row for each educator/group, save the file, and upload it using the file upload field below.

⬇ Download Group Registration Template

File Upload(Required)

Upload the completed Group Registration Form here.

Drop files here or

Max. file size: 100 MB.

Participating Educator's Class/Group Information(Required)

Please provide all details for each of your classes/groups participating in the Learning Challenge. If your learners are not organized by grade level, please enter Early Years. Use 1 line for each class/group. Click the (+) to add more rows.

Grade(s)

# of Learners/Students in class/group

Instructions for Groups of 2–10 Educators

Please complete the requested information for each educator participating in the Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge.

If you do not have the information for all participating educators, or you would prefer not to register educators on their behalf, please ask them to complete their own individual registration.

For each educator, please provide:

First and last name
Email address
Number of learners in their class/group
Grade(s) of participating learners. If grade levels do not apply to your setting (e.g., childcare, early learning, homeschool, or community programs), please enter the age range or Early Years as appropriate.
Interested in Pen Pals for Water? (Y/N)

To add a new line, click the (+) button at the end of the row.

If an educator is participating with more than one class or group, please add a separate line for each class or group.

Pen Pals for Water: Living Lakes Canada Freshwater Learning Opportunity

Pen Pals for Water is a free hybrid indoor/outdoor learning opportunity that concludes with a national Pen Pal exchange. Learners will explore their local freshwater through lessons and hands-on activities, then write letters to another classroom in Canada to share what they have learned and discover how water shapes communities from coast to coast.

Limited spaces are available. Priority will be given to Grade 5/6 classes.

Individual Participating Educator's Information (please include ALL participating educators)(Required)

Please provide all details for each educator/group participating in the Learning Challenge (including yourself). If your learners are not organized by grade level, please enter Early Years. Click the (+) to add more rows.

Educator First + Last Name

Email Address

# of Learners/Students

Grade(s)

Pen Pals for Water? (Y or N)

What is the name of your school/organization?(Required)

Where is your school/organization located?(Required)

City State / Province / Region Country

Prizes

We are excited to once again be giving away two amazing grand prizes to two lucky educators who participate in this year's Learning Challenge! On top of these two amazing prizes, you can win monthly prizes by sharing your Learning Challenge moments with us either by tagging us in your photos or sharing your photos and stories here!

Grand Prize #1

$500 Giftcard to the Outdoor Learning School & Store!

Grand Prize #2

Complimentary Registration to the 2027 Outdoor Learning Conference!

Thank you to our partners and allies for their support!

See our full partner page for a comprehensive list.

Resources

Parent Letter Template

Office Letter Template

Student Agreement Template

0 Hours

Goal: 10000 Hours

Help Us Reach 10 Million Hours Spent Outside Over the 2026-27 School Year!

Each month we will add 1 hour per learner participating in the challenge. Spending more than 1 hour a week outside? Click below to submit your extra hours for a chance to win prizes and help us get closer to reaching our goal!

Name	Group	School	Month	Hours
No submissions yet.

Report only additional outdoor learning hours

Do not include the 1 hour per week that is part of your Learning Challenge commitment. If your class of 20 learners spent an additional 5 hours learning outdoors this month, enter 20 learners and 5 additional hours per learner. This will be recorded as 100 additional learner-hours.

* Required field

Reporting Month*

Educator Name*

Educator Email*

School/Organization*

Class/Group Name*

Number of Learners*

Additional Outdoor Learning Hours per Learner*

Additional Learner-Hours:

Share my group on the leaderboard?

Tell us about your outdoor learning this month!

2025/2026 Learning Challenge Goal Surpassed! Together we logged 12,602,918 hours of outdoor learning, exceeding our goal of 10 million hours. Thank you to every educator, learner, and school who helped make this possible.

When we launched the 2025 to 2026 Outdoor Learning Challenge, we set an ambitious goal of reaching 10 million hours of outdoor learning.

Thanks to the incredible commitment of educators, students, schools, families, and organizations, we not only reached our goal, we surpassed it. Together, participants logged an incredible 12,602,918 hours of outdoor learning.

Every hour represents children and youth learning, exploring, playing, creating, and connecting outdoors. From schoolyards and forests to parks, trails, community spaces, and neighbourhoods, learners experienced the many benefits of spending time outside.

This achievement demonstrates the growing momentum behind outdoor learning and the dedication of educators who continue to create meaningful opportunities for learning beyond the indoor classroom.

To everyone who participated in this year's challenge, whether by tracking hours, sharing stories, supporting colleagues, or inspiring learners to spend more time outdoors, thank you. This milestone belongs to all of you. Together, we exceeded our goal by more than 2.6 million hours and showed what is possible when outdoor learning becomes a regular part of education.

We are grateful to every participant who helped make this achievement possible and look forward to continuing this journey together.

12,608,918 hours. Countless experiences. Endless opportunities to learn outside.

2025-26 Prizes Winners:

Laura Padulo (Ontario) - Grand Prize #1: $500 Gift Card to the Outdoor Learning School and Store donated by Pac FUNS

Rana Nelson (BC) - Grand Prize #2: Complimentary Conference Registration for the 2027 Outdoor Learning Conference!

Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge

Who Can Participate?

Why Join the Learning Challenge?