When I began thinking about starting an outdoor education program as a classroom teacher, I remember meeting with other educators and talking with them. It’s funny to think about our worries and concerns in retrospect.
We were worried about pee and poop. Poop, mostly.
It makes sense, right? We are spending 2-5 hours outdoors with kids, someone might have to poop! Cripes! What do we do?
We looked into the cost of renting a port-a-potty, we thought about asking homeowners near the woods where we were located if we could ring their doorbell for an emergency, we even designed a 5-gallon bucket with a toilet lid contraption.
Our actual solution? One teacher walked back to school, about halfway through the day, with the kids who wanted to go and use the bathroom. It was usually about 1/3 of the kids who went on the “bathroom train.” And other days, when there was an emergency, we told kids to go a little further down the path, gave them a quick primer in nature peeing, and sent them on their way. If the student did, in fact, need to poop, and they missed the bathroom train, one teacher would walk back with them. I think this only happened one time in the two years of spending one full day outside each week.
Other ways to help with bathroom worries:
-Make it mandatory for younger students to use the bathroom before leaving. (Students 9 and under)
-Highly suggest it to older students. (Students 9 and older)
-Keep your departure easy-going. Don’t rush- Students might feel like they don’t have time to go.
-When students go to the bathroom, let them know that you’ll wait for them. They don’t need to rush.
-Don’t forget to take time to use the bathroom yourself (maybe even announce it.) It’s modeling making good decisions.
-Know how to pee outside. Practice it. If you have female parts, practice it a few times. It’s good if you pee on your shoes, or on your pants bunched up around your ankles- because you will be able to quickly teach a child how to nature pee (with your words). As a teacher, you may not have time to fully explain it, but a few phrases can send a worried child on her way-
“Pull your pants all the way off one of your legs and move them off to the side. Squat low to the ground. Don’t worry about wiping. Just a little dribble drabble will do. You’ve got this!”
And in reality, most children don’t usually poop during school hours.
Outdoor Learning with Weslie 