HWB Outdoor Learning – 5 CfE First Level Lesson Plans

Take Health and Wellbeing learning outdoors with this practical collection of 5 ready-to-use HWB lesson plans for First Level within Curriculum for Excellence (CfE).

Designed for an outdoor setting, these lessons provide engaging opportunities for children to develop emotional awareness, confidence, resilience, respectful relationships and physical wellbeing through active, hands-on learning.

Overview of the Resources
This resource contains 5 structured First Level HWB lesson plans, specifically designed to support learning in an outdoor environment.
The lessons combine discussion, movement, sensory exploration, practical activities and opportunities for reflection. They can be delivered using natural and readily available outdoor resources, making them ideal for outdoor classrooms, school grounds, playgrounds, gardens and other suitable outdoor spaces.

Themes Covered
Recognising and Expressing Feelings
Explore different emotions, recognise how feelings can affect us and develop appropriate ways to communicate and express emotions.
Personal Space and Respect
Develop awareness of personal boundaries, understand the importance of respecting others’ space and explore respectful interactions.
Building Confidence and Resilience
Encourage learners to take on challenges, persevere when things are difficult and recognise their own strengths and achievements.
Stretching and Body Awareness
Explore movement, stretching and physical wellbeing while developing awareness of how the body feels before, during and after activity.
Loose Parts Sensory Board
Create and explore a sensory resource using loose parts, encouraging learners to investigate textures, sensations and responses while developing communication and sensory awareness.

What’s Included?
Each of the 5 lesson plans includes:
Learning Intention
Success Criteria
Resource Details
Warm-Up
Teacher Input
Guided Input
Independent Input
Plenary
Assessment - Say, Make, Do, Write
Differentiation – Support
Differentiation – Challenge

The consistent structure makes the resource easy to follow and supports clear planning, delivery and assessment.

Assessment
Assessment opportunities are included throughout each lesson using a Say, Make, Do, Write approach.

Differentiation
Each lesson includes ideas for supporting and extending learners.

How to Use This Resource
These lesson plans are designed to be flexible and easy to adapt to your own outdoor environment.
They can be used in:
School grounds.
Outdoor classrooms.
Playgrounds.
Gardens.
Woodland areas.
Other suitable outdoor learning spaces.

Each lesson provides a clear sequence from warm-up and teacher input through guided and independent learning, finishing with a plenary and assessment opportunity.

Simply select the lesson that fits your learning focus, prepare the suggested resources and take the learning outdoors.

The activities can also be adapted to suit your learners, available space, weather conditions and the resources you have to hand.