Taking young children outdoors every day is an important and sometimes overlooked part of the early childhood curriculum. In my pre-K class, we journey out into the neighborhood every day in all types of weather. Our school regards the neighboring community as an extension of our classrooms.

Children have a natural propensity to connect with and explore nature. These early experiences with nature are an important factor in developing environmental awareness. You are exposing children to new vocabulary they are learning in context and giving them the opportunity to make real-life connections.

It is important to understand the possible barriers when venturing off school grounds. Teachers have to keep up with the pacing clock and curriculum standards, and many schools are located in busy, urban settings where there is not a lot of nature around. These are barriers, but not dead ends! Use your outdoor classroom for instructional time. Instead of a read aloud in the meeting area of your classroom, have it at the local hardware store. Of course, all outdoor activities must be approved by your administration and run in accordance with Department of Education regulations.

Once you have dedicated time for a journey, the next step is getting to know your school community. Your outdoor class does not have to take place in a park. The neighborhood grocery store, laundromat, bakery, pizzeria and residences are all vital parts of the community. Take a walk on your lunch break and check out possible destinations. Reach out to your parent body for volunteer chaperones. This is a great way to build stronger bonds with parents.

How do you turn a neighborhood walk into a journey? Be open to the wonder of noticing small details. Walking at different times of the day will increase your chances of seeing something new. Ask your students open-ended questions like, “What’s different about what you see today?”

Model using the five senses. You might say, “I’m touching the wet grass,” “I’m hearing the jets of an airplane; it sounds like…” or “I’m smelling the fallen pine tree needles.”

Make dressing for and observing weather part of the learning experience. You can sing and create songs about weather as you put on hats or layers of clothing. You can chart the weather and make predictions as well. On the walk, use your magnifying glass to look closely at drops of rain hanging from a leaf or to examine the structure of snow. If it has recently rained, use pipettes to suck up rain from puddles and squirt it back out again. Watch where the water flows and ask, “I wonder where it will go from here?” If it is sunny, make shadows with your body or jump over the shadows of your friends. Shadow tracing or filling is also great fun. Come back later in the day to see how the time of day changes the shadows.

Some teachers prepare a journey bag for each student. Each child has a small canvas tote; you can have children decorate their totes with fabric markers and paint. Journey materials may include crayons, pencils, magnifying glasses and Ziploc bags for natural treasures. If a bag for each child is not possible, you can ask parents to donate a few old child-sized bags and appoint a few children as “journey helpers.” At the beginning of the school year, I collect a few dollars from each family to purchase bright-yellow safety vests for each child. Ikea sells these for about $4 per vest. Remember to bring along a first-aid kit and a cell phone.

You will want to document the outing. Rather than taking all of the photos yourself, ask one of your students to be the “documentarian” of the day’s journey. I keep my eye out for old digital cameras for students to use.

A great way to create a connection to your indoor classroom is to make photo books with your students using their photos from your journeys. These books can be wordless or have child-created text. We have a separate bin of class-made books in our classroom library; the children love to flip through the colorful photos of themselves and their friends.

I always plan for a short meeting after a journey. This is when we examine nature items, chart wonderings on a map, look at photos or plan our follow-up journey. I like to place things found on a journey in different centers for observation, discussion and play.

Cultivating curiosity and acute observation skills in our students will lay a strong foundation for the rest of their learning journey, which is a lifelong pursuit.

Sandra Fajgier is a prekindergarten teacher at PS K280 in South Slope, Brooklyn.