Whether teaching reading, math, science, or social studies, nature can be a teacher’s best friend for motivating students and engaging learning. The DNR has a variety of resources to help educators in formal and nonformal settings teach students about natural resources. Explore this page to find lessons, outdoor teaching tips, and opportunities for professional development.
Getting Started
- How to Teach Outside - Tips to help you prepare and succeed in your outdoor classroom.
- Nature Play - Playing outside has numerous benefits, get started by learning about the benefits and how to encourage nature play.
- Bringing Nature Inside - Tips and ideas on bringing natural objects inside including how to collect items, attracting wildlife to your window, and creating a nature corner.
- Classroom animals - Before you bring animals in the classroom consider these important points.
Lessons and Curriculum
- K-12 Outdoor Lessons - Use these lessons and videos to take learning outdoors in your schoolyard, neighborhood, or outdoor classroom.
- A Teacher’s Guide to Arbor Month - Contains eight lessons (K-8) about Minnesota’s trees and the natural world.
- Geology of Minnesota: A Guide for Teachers - Guide for 6-8 teachers and others who have an interest in understanding Minnesota’s geology.
- Mining Lessons and Activities - Includes fact sheet and activities: cookie mining, layer cake core drilling, birdseed mining, and bingo game.
- MinnAqua Leader’s Guide - View and download 39 detailed, illustrated lessons and activities to introduce 3-5 graders to fishing.
- Minnesota Conservation Volunteer Young Naturalists - Articles and teacher’s guides designed to engage elementary and middle school students in nonfiction topics on natural science and outdoor life.
- Public Land and Mineral Ownership: A Guide for Teachers - Resources to supplement 9-12 grade discussions on Minnesota’s history, government, and geography.
- Wildfire Prevention - Download Smokey Bear materials (K—8) and learn about Firewise Communities: Reducing the Risk of Wildlife (9-12) lessons.
- Complete a training to get a copy of these interdisciplinary curriculums: Project Learning Tree - , Project WET - , or Project WILD -
Free Teacher Materials
- Forestry Posters - Request free copies of education posters from DNR Forestry.
- All About Minnesota’s Forests and Trees: A Primer - An overview on forestry in Minnesota for educators, naturalists, and students.
- Smokey Bear classroom materials- Any Minnesota educator can order activity cards, coloring books, posters, and other classroom materials.
Build a Prairie coloring book - Print out this coloring book when classroom materials related to prairie are needed.