Natural outdoor environments offer many benefits for children's physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development. Despite these advantages, educational practices still proceed to be conducted indoors. This case study explores how a primary education school in Norway sought to increase their use of outdoor environments for teaching and learning, especially for practical and aesthetical purposes. The school participates in a school development course in collaboration with a university-based teacher education programme. Through a co-design process focusing on the outdoor environment, the teachers aimed to enhance their competencies in facilitating outdoor play, physical activity, and aesthetic expressions at their school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify perceived support factors and barriers in developing such outdoor learning spaces. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings indicate that principal support and the presence of a dedicated outdoor education group were key enabling factors. Conversely, lack of time and limited teacher competence emerged as primary barriers. The study contributes insights into how schools can initiate and sustain changes toward more varied teaching environments and to better integrate the use of outdoors in their teaching.

Keywords: Outdoor learning, physical activity, aesthetical expression, play.