Outdoor education means increasing the opportunity to encounter and experiment with nature, but
above all, it means rethinking one’s own relationship with nature. Professionals working in the field
of education cannot transmit to children what they do not know or share. Therefore, to foster
education in nature with pedagogical skill, it is important for each practitioner to become aware of
their own way of thinking and be willing to undergo an authentic noological revolution (Bateson,
1976), reviewing their own relationship with the environment in an educational key. Starting from
these premises, the participatory research focuses on the role of the early childhood practitioner, the
emotions they feel, and the meanings they give to the outdoor spaces of the educational facility they
inhabit in on a daily basis and share with the children. Placing the focus on the adult’s viewpoint
meant investigating their experiences and how these can condition the children's relations with more
natural, destructured spaces. The results gathered by two tools, heart maps and lived-experience
descriptions reveal difficulties teachers experience in connection with some spaces which are
considered challenging and the necessity to support teachers in the reappropriation of those spaces
with a view to identifying new perspectives for improvement.