Outdoor Learning Center (The "OLC")

Seth Boyden Elementary has a long tradition in outdoor education. The school has large yards in the front and back, which over the years have been turned into educational resources for outdoor learning.

Instagram: @sethboydengarden

Garden Recess

Every Tuesday and Friday, parent volunteers open up the garden and mud kitchen for students to explore and play. Families are welcome to attend and join their child in the garden. Stay for the whole time or just during your child's recess time:

2nd and Multiage: 11:30am - 12:00pm

3rd grade: 12:00pm - 12:30pm

4th grade: 12:30pm - 1:00pm

5th grade: 1:00pm - 1:30pm

1st and K: 1:30pm - 2:00pm

How to volunteer

Sign in at the front office, get a garden badge, and walk around the school to the garden!

Garden recess is made possible by the support of parent volunteers. Please consider signing up to host a garden recess. Hosting a recess is easy: arrive at 11am to help set up the mud kitchen toys and any art projects planned for the day. Stay until the end of recess (2:30pm) to help put away toys.

Without parent volunteers, we can't have garden recess!

Sign up here to host a garden recess. To learn more, email olc@sethboyden.com. 

(a '25-'26 sign up sheet will be posted over the summer)

The Teaching Garden

The centerpiece of this “Outdoor Learning Center” is the school’s garden, Strawberry Fields , which has been part of the school’s curriculum since its creation in 2001. A garden instructor works with teachers and students to grow lifelong interest and skills to care for the environment and grow and eat fresh food. The instructor also coordinates science experiments, art and cooking projects, games, math and literacy connections in the garden. The goal is to connect students to nature while integrating their inside learning to outside experiences. Our Garden Recess Program welcomes parent volunteers on a weekly basis. During Garden Recess, students are free to work, cook, eat, play and explore in Strawberry Fields. Enjoying the garden does not end when the school year is over. In the summer months, through a program called Seth Boyden Shares, produce is harvested and shared with the local community.

Read more about our Summer Vegetable Program “Seth Boyden Shares”. For additional resources about our outdoor learning program, visit our Facebook page “Recipes for a Successful School Garden/A Guide for Parents and Teachers” and Instagram@School.Garden.Success. A book about our teaching garden will be published in 2019.

Outdoor Classroom

The school’s Outdoor Classroom is a space for play and project work. It consists of three intersecting paved circles that are framed by trees and bushes: The Classroom Circle has a blackboard and enough tables and chairs for an entire class. The Improvisation Nook is used for small group instruction, read aloud, and class sharing or performances. The Art Nook, designed for chalk drawings, is surrounded by plants and structures that attract birds and butterflies. The Art Nook also serves as the trailhead for the Nature Story Trail and the Children’s Arboretum.

Children’s Arboretum

Open to the community, the Children’s Arboretum is a resource for kids and members of the community. A “Nature Story Trail” meanders through the school yard and invites in 12 stations to think about nature in new and different ways. Each of the over 120 trees on the school yard is labeled with its species and fun facts.

Habitat Garden

The Habitat Garden consists of two sections. The open section of the habitat garden, inside the track, includes native trees and low-growing plants so it remains safe for use by kids at all ages and at all times. The wild section of the Habitat Garden is arranged along the fence line to allow nature to grow as it pleases and students to observe slow, quiet changes in nature. Both sections attract and serve as a refuge for birds and small animals.

The Big Picture

The outdoor learning center is based on the Master Plan that the PTA developed with the Natural Learning Initiative of North Carolina State University. A local landscape architect helped the PTA to translate the master plan into designs for the outdoor classroom and the garden.

These projects were implemented over several years (from 2013-2018) with the help of hundreds of volunteers and with the generous donations of many parents and community members.