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.
- Recommended reading - Fiction and nonfiction books for students to read indoors and outdoors, organized by grade.
Lessons and Curriculum
- K-12 Outdoor Lessons - Use these lessons and videos to take learning outdoors in your schoolyard, neighborhood, or outdoor classroom.
- Teaching activities - Lessons and fact sheets about Minnesota natural resources that you can use indoors.
Teacher Professional Development
Complete an in-person or online training to get curricula that addresses academic standards in language arts, social studies, math, science, and art. CEUs provided.
- Project Learning Tree - A variety of curriculum guides spanning preK-12 on trees, forests, and natural resources
- Project WET - PreK-12 curriculum guides about water
- Project WILD - Prek12 curriculum guides about wildlife
- Minnesota Minerals Education Workshop for Teachers - An immersive workshop for K-12 teachers that includes hands-on classroom experiences and guided field trips with geologists and MMEW instructors to help participants enhance their knowledge of geology and the state's natural resources.
Free Education Materials
- Forestry Posters - Request free copies of large education posters on topics such as Minnesota trees, biomes, state symbols.
- Smokey Bear classroom materials- Any Minnesota educator can order activity cards, coloring books, posters, and other classroom materials.
- "Just for Kids"- games, coloring books, activity sheets, family activities about Minnesota’s nongame wildlife
- Kids Fishing Fun- coloring books, posters, activity books, and word searches
- Build a Prairie coloring book
- Minnesota State Symbols coloring book