If you walk into a Finnish preschool, you will quickly notice something that surprises many visitors: children are outside every day, in every season and in every weather. Rain, snow, mud, and wind are not reasons to stay indoors, but they are reasons to dress appropriately and head out the door.
This commitment to outdoor learning is one of the defining features of Finnish early childhood education, and the research behind it is compelling. Children who learn regularly in outdoor environments develop stronger physical coordination, deeper emotional resilience, and a natural curiosity that follows them throughout their education. They sleep better, focus more easily, and approach challenges with greater confidence. In a world where parents are increasingly informed about what quality early education really looks like, the schools that thrive will be those that can point to real outcomes, and outdoor learning delivers them.
FinlandWay® exists to make that possible. We bring Finland’s proven early childhood education to partner schools worldwide, with everything a school needs to implement it from day one.
Why Finland treats the outdoors as a learning environment
In many preschools around the world, the outdoor space is where children let off steam between lessons, a chance for children to burn off energy before returning to “real learning.” Finland takes a fundamentally different view.
Finnish early childhood pedagogy treats the environment as the ‘third teacher’, alongside the educator and the child’s peers. The outdoor space is designed, resourced, and used as an active learning environment. Outdoor time is not a reward or a break from the curriculum. It is the curriculum, applied in the most natural setting available.
This approach is grounded in decades of research showing that children who learn outdoors develop stronger cognitive flexibility, greater physical confidence, deeper emotional regulation, and a more genuine love of learning.
Finland’s National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care enshrines this philosophy at a national level, making it not a trend, but a considered, evidence-based system.
Finnish National Agency for Education — ECEC curriculum
The real benefits of outdoor preschool activities
The case for outdoor learning is not built on tradition alone. Over the past two decades, a growing body of research across developmental psychology, neuroscience, and education has made the picture increasingly clear: children who spend regular, meaningful time learning outdoors develop differently and in many ways, more fully than those whose education is confined indoors.
For children, the benefits begin in the body. Time spent in natural environments has been shown to reduce cortisol levels, the stress hormone, and to support more settled, regulated behaviour throughout the day. Children who play and learn outside tend to sleep more soundly, eat more readily, and engage in quieter activities with greater focus and calm.
Physical development is perhaps the most visible benefit, but it runs deeper than it first appears. When children climb, balance, run, dig, and carry in natural settings, they are not simply burning energy. They are building the neurological foundations for concentration, fine motor control, and eventually, writing. A child who spends their early years scrambling over logs, hauling buckets of water to a mud kitchen, or navigating a forest path is developing the core strength, spatial awareness, and body confidence that a classroom chair and a pencil will later demand of them. The connection between active outdoor childhoods and strong school readiness is well established in the research, and it is one of the reasons Finnish children, who spend so much of their early years outside, perform so consistently well when formal schooling begins. Nature and success: Outdoor play is linked to school readiness
Nature connection brings its own distinct benefits. Children who spend time in natural environments from an early age develop a relationship with the living world that stays with them. They notice things: the way light changes through leaves, the sound of rain on different surfaces, the lifecycle of a beetle or a seed. This quality of attention supports not only scientific thinking but a broader disposition towards curiosity, patience, and care.
For schools, the implications are clear. Families who understand the research are seeking early years settings that take outdoor learning seriously — not as a reward or a break, but as a genuine and considered part of the programme. Schools that can speak with confidence about why they go outside, what children are gaining there, and how it connects to their broader educational vision are schools that earn lasting trust. The outdoors, understood well, is not just good for children. It is good for the communities that gather around them.
Outdoor preschool activities — Finland’s approach in practice
Finnish children are outside every single day; in forests, gardens, courtyards, and fields. Here are some outdoor preschool activities at the heart of the Finnish model:
Nature exploration and forest learning
Seasonal nature walks, bug hunts, leaf collections, and weather observation are not supplementary activities in Finnish preschools — they are curriculum. Children develop scientific thinking by engaging with real phenomena: they observe, ask questions, form hypotheses, and conclude, all before they can write.
This connection to nature also has real benefits for wellbeing. Research consistently shows that time in natural environments reduces anxiety, improves focus, and fosters a sense of calm and belonging. Children who learn to notice the world around them tend to grow into people who care for it.
The Forest School approach, which shares deep roots with the Finnish model, has been shown to improve confidence, resilience, and social skills in young children across many different cultural contexts. Forest School Association — what is forest school?
Physical and movement-based outdoor play
You can see traditional climbing frames in Finnish preschool playgrounds — however they are typically made from wood and natural materials rather than plastic, and they sit within environments that feel closer to a forest than a conventional playground. More importantly, Finnish children regularly leave the school grounds entirely, heading into nearby forests and natural spaces where they climb real trees, balance on fallen logs, dig in real mud, and navigate uneven terrain. This is intentional; natural environments ask more of children physically, and that challenge builds genuine strength, coordination, and the ability to assess risk sensibly.
Gross motor development in these early years directly supports a child’s capacity to sit, focus, and write when they reach formal schooling. Physical confidence and cognitive readiness are not separate goals — they are deeply connected.
The WHO recommends that children under five engage in at least three hours of physical activity daily. The Finnish outdoor model, with its blend of natural playground spaces and regular forest excursions, is built around exactly this.
WHO guidelines on physical activity for under-5s
Outdoor creative and sensory play
Mud kitchens, water walls, sand pits, and outdoor art stations give children access to some of the richest sensory materials available — the natural world itself. Sensory play is not messy for the sake of it. It supports brain development, fine motor skills, emotional regulation, and creative thinking in ways that no controlled indoor setting can fully replicate.
Children who are allowed to get muddy, take considered risks, and engage physically with their environment develop a genuine sense of agency; the understanding that they can act on the world and make things happen. This is where confidence, resilience, and self-motivation take root.
Collaborative outdoor games and projects
Group gardening, den building, team games, and outdoor construction projects give children something that no solitary activity can: the experience of achieving something together. These collaborative outdoor activities develop communication, negotiation, and accountability, the social foundations of a thoughtful, capable person.
In the FinlandWay® curriculum, outdoor collaborative projects are also woven through with values of environmental care and sustainability — helping children develop not just social awareness, but a genuine relationship with the natural world they are part of.
How FinlandWay® brings these activities to schools worldwide
Understanding that Finnish outdoor preschool activities work is one thing. Knowing how to bring them to life, with consistency, quality, and sensitivity to local culture, is another. This is the gap that FinlandWay® was built to close.
We offer a complete early childhood education system, designed for schools that are serious about doing right by their children and building something sustainable in the process.
One thing that sets the FinlandWay® curriculum apart is that every activity is designed to work outdoors. Nothing is confined to the classroom. Whether children are exploring mathematics, developing language, or engaging in creative play, the outdoor environment is always a viable and encouraged setting. Alongside this, our phenomenon-based pedagogy guides schools to explore the real-life themes and environments around them; the neighbourhood, the local market, a nearby park or forest, bringing learning into the wider world through purposeful trips beyond the school gates.
Ready to become a FinlandWay® partner school? Enquire today and speak with our team about what the programme can do for your school and the children in your community.
Internal Link: Start a preschool franchise with FinlandWay® https://finlandwayschools.com/for-schools/
What this means for families
If you are a parent researching preschools, the outdoor activity programme on offer deserves careful attention — not just because it shapes what your child learns, but because it shapes how they feel about learning for the rest of their life.
A child who spends their preschool years in a rich, active environment, one that values freedom, physical challenge, and closeness to nature, arrives at school with more than academic readiness. They arrive with curiosity, confidence, and the social skills to find their place and contribute to it.
FinlandWay® partner schools are held to careful quality standards, so that every family in our network can trust they are receiving a genuine Finnish early education experience, wherever in the world they are.
Looking for a FinlandWay® school for your child? Find your nearest partner school →
Internal Link: Top Nursery School Programmes for Early Childhood Development https://finlandwayschools.com/top-nursery-school-programs-for-early-childhood-development/
Ready to bring Finnish-inspired activities to your school?
You do not need to be in Finland to deliver Finnish-quality early education. You need the right system, the right training, and the right partner.
FinlandWay® gives your school everything it needs to implement a world-class early childhood education programme — one that families recognise, educators are proud of, and children flourish in. Whether you are opening a new preschool, upgrading an existing one, or building a group of schools, our franchise model is designed to grow with you.
This is what you can expect from day one:
- A structured, tested curriculum that removes the guesswork from programme planning.
- Educators who feel confident, supported, and inspired to teach at their best.
- Families who choose your school — and stay — because of the quality they experience.
- A brand and methodology that positions your school as a leader in your market.
- A global network of like-minded schools and education professionals to learn from.
Get in touch today. Our team will walk you through the FinlandWay® programme, answer your questions, and help you understand exactly what partnership looks like for your school.
For schools & franchise partners: Enquire about the FinlandWay® programme
Speak directly with our team: Contact FinlandWay®
The environment is the message
Outdoor preschool activities are not a supplement to real learning — they are where some of the most important learning happens. Finland has spent decades building an education system around this understanding, and the results are clear.
FinlandWay® exists to bring that approach to schools and children everywhere. If you believe, as we do, that the early years are too important to leave to chance, we would very much like to build something meaningful with you.
