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At Limestone Community School in northeastern Maine, a typical fall school day for middle grade students may include mountain biking and canoeing. 

In the winter, students can snowshoe, icefish or bust out new snowtubes at a nearby hill as their classmates calculate speed and acceleration. 

Pandemic era funding allowed schools to get creative with bringing students back to the classroom. At Limestone, led to the formation of an outdoor science program, principal Ben Lothrop said.

鈥淓verything is connected to the curriculum,鈥� Lothrop said. 鈥淭hey’re certainly having fun and they’re learning lifelong skills, but they’re actually learning about math and science too.鈥�

About four hours away, Maine Academy of Natural Sciences鈥� outdoor programming is the school鈥檚 鈥渂read and butter,鈥� said Evan Coleman, the school鈥檚 director of curriculum and instruction. The high school campus in central Maine is host to several greenhouses, a collection of beehives and a sugar shack, outdoor programs that have been expanded through COVID funding.

In the years since the pandemic, however, the purpose of spending time outdoors 鈥� or 鈥済reen time鈥� 鈥� has become a possible next step toward reengaging students and boosting mental health and academics 鈥� the same goal behind a growing movement of cell phone bans and restrictions. Schools are also being seen as key in closing the “nature gap,鈥� where low-income communities have less access to green space than wealthier families.

鈥淵ou don’t need a giant swath of green space or forest to get a lot of these mental and physical health benefits,鈥� said Lincoln Larson, an associate professor at North Carolina State University鈥檚 Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management. 鈥淪ometimes just a tree on the sidewalk can yield a lot of the same benefits, or a little pocket park. It doesn’t have to be this giant well-planned thing.鈥�

Some barriers exist, including in the most extreme cases where urban schools are located on 鈥� areas that lack green space and absorb heat. For other schools that may not be as limited by environmental factors, large outdoor programming has slowed down because of the expiration of school COVID relief money in Sept. 2024. Holding classes outside can even be challenging sometimes as schools navigate teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and limited flexibility with curriculum. 

Research shows a correlation between time spent outside and students’ , skills and academic and , so although 鈥渢echnology isn鈥檛 going away鈥� and 鈥渕uch of it is really important for learning,鈥� said Page Nichols, the chief innovation officer at the Maine Department of Education, time outdoors 鈥渞eally speaks for itself and how it’s supporting a student holistically.鈥�

Local have pushed for the importance of incorporating green space on school campuses. Earlier this year, and joined state and in signing laws aimed at establishing more outdoor programs for students. 

By early 2026, Maine鈥檚 education department plans to issue outside learning recommendations to schools to help them expand programs that may boost student well-being with little to no cost and where they may have limited outdoor space.

The hope is that the work means outdoor time won鈥檛 have to become 鈥渢his big extra lift because it’s really a part of the [school] day,鈥� Nichols said. It may be a model for other states to follow, 鈥渂ut, it takes a while to get there.鈥�

Schools as an equity bridge for the ‘nature gap’ 

Getting a child outside isn鈥檛 always as easy as it sounds as dedicated outdoor space is changing quickly. 

Jenny Rowland-Shea, the director for public lands at the , said the United States is losing natural land at a rate of a football field every 30 seconds and 鈥渋t is disproportionately affecting communities of color and low-income communities.鈥�

Communities of color are three times more likely, at 74%, than white communities (23%) to live in nature deprived areas, defined as places with less nature than the state average. About 70% of low-income communities live in nature-deprived areas, which is 20% higher than those with higher economic stability, according to a Rowland-Shea conducted. 

鈥淲e’re also finding that families with children are more likely to live in these areas that are nature deprived,鈥� Rowland-Shea said. 鈥淭hat’s only compounded when we look at families with children who are people of color and that are low income.鈥� 

There鈥檚 a hope that schools may be able to bridge the 鈥渘ature gap.鈥�

鈥淜ids may not have a park in their backyard or that鈥檚 walkable in their neighborhood, but pretty much all kids go to schools and they spend a lot of time there, so the idea is that if you can have green school yards, then that’s a way to provide equitable access to nature for all,鈥� said Kathryn Stevenson, an associate professor at the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University. 

Just 10, 15 minutes helps

While children are spending less time outdoors, they鈥檙e also spending over seven hours in front of cellphones and computers, to the National Recreation and Park Association.

It鈥檚 a mental health double-whammy as studies show that excessive screen time and heightens stress reactions while time outside has the on the brain.

The and theories are 鈥渢wo prevailing鈥� proposals that explain the benefits of outdoor time on the human body, Larson said.

The theories suggest 鈥渢hat when we’re constantly bombarded by electronic stimuli 鈥� our minds are just frantic,鈥� Larson said. But, time outdoors has a natural effect on the brains that lowers stress levels. For students specifically, this means better memory, concentration, mood and overall well-being.

鈥淣ature gives us space, gives us time and gives our brains just an opportunity to reset 鈥� to restore our attention 鈥� so that we can deeply engage with things,鈥� Larson said. 鈥淵ou could stare at a tree and your mind slowly calms down.鈥� 

An appetite for the outdoors from students and educators

Like many other states, Maine signed that requires schools to have policies around cell phone use by 2026. 

Administrators at both Limestone Community School and Maine Academy of Natural Sciences have not implemented full bell-to-bell bans, but allow students to have access to their phones during lunch. They say their programming has helped keep students off their phones naturally.

 鈥淚 won鈥檛 say the problem is gone across the board, but kids got on board really quickly, especially when they鈥檙e doing things that they鈥檙e engaged in,鈥� said Coleman of the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences. 鈥淏ringing back the joy of that type of learning in the physical world is something 鈥� that keeps students interested in what we do as a school.鈥�

Since establishing their outdoor science program , Limestone principal Lothrop, said he鈥檚 seen an increase in attendance and improvement in classroom behavior.

鈥淭he kids want to be here,鈥� Lothrop said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to miss anything. They know today we might be making syrup, or they know in English class they might be reading this book that they’ve gotten into.鈥�

Tracy Larson, a former teacher who now works at , a Minnesota based nonprofit that provides outdoor programming to schools, said from her experience, outdoor education has also become a way to fill the opportunity gap affecting low income students. 

鈥淔or students who are not intrinsically motivated to learn in the classroom when they go outside 鈥�,鈥� Larson said, 鈥測ou start to see them tapping into their curiosity, wanting to connect with others and maybe finding that this is really where they thrive.鈥�

The appetite for outdoor learning extends across the country and is something students have expressed interest in for years.

In September 2020, researchers at the University of Michigan to 14-24 year olds that asked the youth to respond with their thoughts on time spent in nature and well-being. 

With over 1,000 respondents, the study found nearly 90% wanted to spend more time in nature, over 50% said nature made them feel calm and 22% said it reduced stress and anxiety. About 22% of responses also said there were barriers toward spending more time outside, including busy schedules, the pandemic and their environment. 

鈥淎 big takeaway was that the youth did see nature as like a real resource that could support mental and physical health,鈥� said Astrid Zamora, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University School of Medicine and a coauthor of the report, 鈥渂ut accessing it wasn’t always an option.鈥�

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