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Nature-connected education for secondary schools in Leiden

The Way We Walk

Learning with Nature as Our Compass

The Way We Walk brings together outdoor learning, reflection, creativity, citizenship, biology, sustainability and wellbeing in one experiential journey. Its intention is simple: to help young people reconnect with themselves, each other and the living world.

Get in touch

What happens when young people are invited to step outside the classroom and into a living learning environment?

The Way We Walk begins with this question.

Why nature-connected learning?

In a time when many young people feel pressure, disconnection and uncertainty about the future, we believe nature can offer more than a beautiful backdrop. Nature can become a teacher, a mirror and a compass.

Young people today are growing up in a world that asks a lot of them. They are navigating academic pressure, social expectations, digital overload, climate concerns and questions about who they are and where they belong. At the same time, many students spend much of their school life indoors, seated, cognitively engaged, but often disconnected from their bodies, their senses and the natural world around them.

The Way We Walk offers a different rhythm. Through guided outdoor sessions, students are invited to slow down, observe, listen, move, reflect and create. They learn through direct experience. They notice patterns in nature, explore their own inner landscape, practise cooperation and begin to understand themselves as part of something larger.

This is not about adding “nature” as another subject to an already full curriculum. It is about recognising nature as a learning environment that can deepen existing themes within education: wellbeing, resilience, citizenship, sustainability, biology and personal development.

  • Nature as a living learning environment
  • Experiential and embodied learning
  • Strengthens connection with self, others and the living world
  • Connects citizenship, sustainability and biology
  • Supports student wellbeing and resilience

Inspired by the Wisdom of Elephants

The title The Way We Walk is inspired by the wisdom of elephants.

In elephant herds, the older females often guide the way. They carry memory, experience and knowledge of the land. They remember routes, water sources and safe passages. Their wisdom supports the generations that follow.

This image speaks deeply to the vision of the programme.

  • How do we walk through the world?
  • Who and what guides us?
  • What wisdom do we inherit from those before us?
  • And what paths are we creating for the generations after us?

Ancient being of this planet, full of heart, wisdom and knowing. I walk the song lines that guide my kin to watering holes, travelling at a pace that allows for Grandmother and Granddaughter. All the generations matter.

Elephant, Curiously Connected Cards

Lesson 2

Seeing Nature as if for the First Time

This lesson invites students to slow down, open their senses and experience nature as a living learning environment. Through sensory awareness, partner work, quiet observation and drawing, students are guided to reconnect with themselves, each other and the natural world.

Duration
2 hours
Setting
Forest, park or natural outdoor space
Group
Students and young people
Core principles
Nature as a compass for growth, and We are all connected

  1. Arrival and opening circle

    Students gather in a circle at the edge of the forest or in a quiet open place. Each student shares one word about how they are arriving.

    Today we are not here to perform or get anything right.

  2. Opening the senses

    A slow sensory exercise, opening the senses one by one.

    You do not have to feel anything special. Just notice what is there.

  3. Partner exercise: guiding and being guided

    In pairs, one student guides the other through the forest while the other keeps their eyes closed. This exercise is about trust, care, attention and seeing in a new way.

  4. Solo time in the forest: drawing and being

    With a sketchbook and pencil, each student spends time alone in the forest, within a clear and safe space.

    This is not about making a perfect or beautiful drawing. It is about looking deeply.

  5. Reflection with the drawing

    Students write a few words or sentences next to their drawing: I noticed… I felt… I was surprised by…

  6. Sharing in pairs or small groups

    One person shares while the other listens. The listener does not interpret, judge or fix. Sharing is optional.

    What I heard you say is…

  7. Closing circle

    The group comes back together in a circle, and each student shares one short reflection.

    We now leave this place, but we can take the calm attention and connection with us.

Opening the senses

Learning outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students may have:

  • Practised slowing down and opening their senses
  • Experienced nature as a grounding and calming environment
  • Built trust and cooperation through partner work
  • Looked at nature with fresh attention and curiosity
  • Expressed observation and feeling through drawing
  • Practised listening to themselves, each other and the living world
  • Reflected on connection, care and belonging
  • Experienced nature as a compass for growth
The forest is not a background for the lesson. It is a partner in the learning process.

Nature, citizenship and sustainability

The Way We Walk connects naturally with themes such as citizenship and sustainability. When students spend time in nature, they do not only learn about ecosystems from a distance. They begin to experience relationship.

They notice that they are part of a wider living world. They begin to ask: How do I relate to this place? What does it mean to care for something beyond myself? How do my choices affect others, both human and more-than-human? What kind of future do I want to help shape?

In this way, sustainability is not only approached as a problem to solve, but as a relationship to restore. Biology becomes more than knowledge about living systems; it becomes a doorway into wonder, respect and connection. Citizenship becomes not only about society, but also about belonging, participation and care.

For schools in Leiden and beyond

The Way We Walk has been developed for secondary schools that want to bring more nature-connected, experiential and meaningful learning into education. It can connect with subjects such as biology, citizenship education, personal development, sustainability and creative learning.

Because when young people learn to listen to nature, they also learn to listen to themselves.

This open-source two-hour lesson can be facilitated by Kolimbri or used independently by schools in a woodland setting.

Get in touch

niki@kolimbri.com 06 51273901

The Way We Walk is an invitation to step outside, slow down and rediscover nature as a compass for growth.