Wellbeing walks
Supporting pupil wellbeing by spending time outside at school or at a local garden or green space.
Learning objectives:
- Recognise how spending time outside supports mental and physical wellbeing
- Engage in sensory and outdoor activities to promote relaxation, self-regulation and perseverance
- Explore ways to incorporate plants into daily routines for improved wellbeing
Curriculum links:
- PSHE: Encourage self-regulation and self-awareness, including recognising and talking about emotions
- Physical Education: Support and develop a healthy active lifestyle
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Key vocabulary
Introducing wellbeing walks
Spending time outside promotes better physical, mental and social health and can transform your pupils’ wellbeing. From the physical exertion of gardening and exploring green spaces, to colours, textures and scents of plants soothing our emotional and stress responses, gardens and green spaces actively promote good health.
Created in partnership with children's mental health charity Place2Be, these walks are a simple and effective way to support the wellbeing of your pupils. They can be carried out anywhere from your school grounds, to a local park or RHS Garden.
Primary: perseverance wellbeing walk
Encourage pupils to develop their awareness of what they need in order to persevere when they find things difficult.
Primary: self-regulation wellbeing walk
Support pupils to notice the impact of nature on their emotional state and investigate the benefits of being with plants.
Secondary: ways to wellbeing with nature walk
Help students use nature to reflect on their emotional state and to learn how to work with nature to self-regulate.
Additional wellbeing activities
Self-regulation and reducing anxiety:
- Calming lavender bags: A sensory activity creating scented bags of lavender
- Seasonal leaf bunting: A mindful activity that can be recreated throughout the seasons to observe changing colours and textures
- Sensory nature box: Create a personalised sensory box containing natural materials to help pupils self-regulate
Perseverance and building resilience:
- The Creative Gardener: A reflective activity combining art and gardening, made in collaboration with Place2Be
- Growing sensory plants: Learn to grow plants that appeal to the five different senses
- Grow indoor bulbs: Grow beautiful plants from bulbs at different times of year to bring colour to your windowsills
Healthy eating and exercise:
- Design a lunch menu: Research some healthy recipes and ingredients that could be grown in your school, then design the menu
- Container gardening: Learn how to grow herbs, fruit and vegetables in containers to encourage healthy eating
- Scavenger hunt: Identify a variety of objects in nature and encourage pupils to be active outdoors
Kindness and active citizenship:
- RHS Grow With It: Come together with your school to grow for our changing climate
- Seeded paper: Create seeded paper using recycled materials and give as gifts to encourage others to grow