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Integrating STEM & SEL Learning in Education. Where Outdoor Play Meets STEM and Social-Emotional Learning.
Across Europe, outdoor play is declining — whileexpectations around STEM skills, resilience, and inclusion are rising. Whenthoughtfully designed, outdoor environments become powerful spaces for:
Launched in 2026, OUTPLAY will deliver:
OUTPLAY – Outdoor Play Labs is a Europeancooperation project that strengthens STEM (Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics) and Social and Emotional Learning(SEL) in early childhood and primary education (ages 3–10)through outdoor, play-based learning.
While STEM skills and transversal competences areincreasingly valued across education systems, many young children still havelimited access to hands-on, engaging, and inclusive learning experiences —particularly outdoors. OUTPLAY addresses this gap by combining STEM learning,social and emotional learning (SEL), and outdoor play to promote holistic childdevelopment. Through exploration and collaboration, children strengthen problem-solving, teamwork, and communication, while developing emotionalregulation, resilience, and adaptability from an early age —building meaningful connections with others and with their environment.
Importantly, this initiative prioritises inclusive access,ensuring that children from underserved communities — including Roma children,migrant and refugee children, children with disabilities, and children in ruralor low-resource settings — can benefit from high-quality outdoor learningopportunities and experience a strong sense of belonging.
OUTPLAY develops and tests practical,curriculum-aligned solutions that help educators integrate outdoorplay into everyday teaching as a meaningful space for STEM and SELlearning.
Key activities include:
Across Europe, children’s opportunities for outdoor play aredeclining due to urbanisation, rigid curricula, safety concerns, andincreased screen time. At the same time:
Research shows that early exposure to STEM, outdoorlearning, and social-emotional development:
OUTPLAY is grounded in the belief that outdoor playis not an “extra”, but a powerful, inclusive approach to learning andcultivates a more dynamic environment in which children can thriveacademically, socially, and emotionally. OUTPLAY positions outdoorlearning not as an occasional activity, but as a regular, curriculum-alignedlearning space that can be integrated into everyday teaching practice.
OUTPLAY takes a practice-oriented, inclusive, andscalable approach:
OUTPLAY offers a concrete, scalable model forintegrating outdoor play into formal and non-formal education as a driver ofSTEM learning and social-emotional development, and with an emphasis oninclusion and belonging. In practice, this means supporting educators toplan, implement, and reflect on regular outdoor activities that are clearlylinked to curriculum-based STEM and social-emotional learning goals.
What makes OUTPLAY distinctive:
By embedding outdoor learning into everyday education,OUTPLAY contributes to more responsive, inclusive, and future-orientededucation systems.
OUTPLAY contributes directly to European priorities, including:
Through ISSA’s dissemination and advocacy work, OUTPLAYtranslates practice-based evidence into policy-relevant messages thatsupport systemic change.
OUTPLAY is an Erasmus+ project funded by the EU, and implemented by a transnational consortiumof early childhood education, research, and community-based organisations acrossEurope.
The partnership bringstogether expertise in:
OUTPLAY is implemented by a transnational consortium of early childhood education, research, andcommunity-based organisations across Europe, led by Škola dokorán – Wide OpenSchool (Slovakia), in partnership with InternationalChild Development Initiatives (the Netherlands), Fundacja Pro Fil (Poland), Pučko otvoreno učilište “Korakpo korak” (Croatia), Pedagoški institut (Slovenia), and the International Step by Step Association(the Netherlands).