In Barcelos, schoolyards are becoming laboratories of environmental learning and shared governance. Through “Recreio é Natureza”, Nature-Based Solutions are connecting students, educators, municipal actors and the wider school community in a sustained transformation of everyday educational space.
In Barcelos, the playground is no longer just a place between classes.
At the Vila Cova School Complex, students move through outdoor spaces with measuring tools and notebooks. Ecological observation is no longer abstract, it happens under their feet. Areas once used only for recess are being reimagined and prepared for structured biodiversity activities and collaborative environmental tasks. The physical interventions are scheduled to take place between May and September 2026.
At António Fogaça Elementary School, the arrival of the Kit Natureza, a set of books and games designed to support environmental exploration, and activities such as the creation of the Baú da Natureza (Nature Treasure Box) during the workshop O Mundo lá fora (The World Outside) did not remain symbolic gestures. They activated new routines. Outdoor space is progressively becoming part of the learning environment, not merely an extension of it, with physical works planned between May and September 2026.
Across schools such as Abel Varzim, the “Recreio é Natureza” Club sustains this energy. Students design and build projects, from a Musical Garden made with recycled materials to a Sensory Pathway Alley that invites interaction with textures and plants. Activities unfold throughout the school year, combining experimentation, reflection and adaptation. The schoolyard becomes a space of doing.
But what makes Barcelos distinctive is not only what happens inside the school gates.
The Municipality of Barcelos is not a distant supporter of the initiative, it is leading it. As a partner in TRANS-lighthouses, the municipality has embedded “Recreio é Natureza” within its broader education, nature and environmental strategies.
In May 2025, Barcelos hosted an international TRANS-lighthouses meeting dedicated to Education and Nature. The Mayor, Mário Constantino Lopes, and the former Councillor for Education, Mariana Carvalho, joined schools and European partners to discuss how these transformations can be sustained and expanded. Students presented their proposals directly in that setting, linking everyday school practice with municipal-level decision-making.
Scaling the transformation: the “Rede Escola-Natureza”
This alignment is already producing continuity. The municipal project “Rede Escola-Natureza” was created to extend the approach to additional schools in the territory, with 20 schools having joined so far. The “Rede Escola-Natureza” focuses on training in two key areas for the transformation and co-creation of playgrounds: nature-based solutions and participatory methodologies. It provides a platform with access to a repository of ideas and diverse documentation, specialised technical support, and a community of practice that will meet annually for peer reflection on the naturalisation of playgrounds.
The municipality is coordinating its efforts, creating synergies between the areas of education, environment, gardens, municipal projects, and health. The Public Health team of the municipality of Barcelos (ULS-BE) is a stakeholder in the “Rede Escola-Natureza” and has been working to raise awareness among the educational community of the importance of play and contact with nature, involving parents in this reflection.
Here, the playground is not treated as decoration. It becomes a hinge, connecting pedagogy, urban space and local governance.
Barcelos shows that when school communities and municipal leadership move together, Nature-Based Solutions do not remain small-scale experiments. They begin to shape how a territory educates, plans and cares for its public spaces.
And this is only the beginning.
Discover the results, consortium and vision of the TRANS-lighthouses project at www.trans-lighthouses.eu, explore pilot stories on the community platform at www.translighthousescommunity.eu, and follow “Recreio é Natureza” in action on Instagram @recreio_e_natureza
Scroll to the end of the page to explore the image gallery and learn more about the proposals developed by schools in Barcelos.
Featured image
Students shaping their school environment - Barcelos. Caption: Students engage in collective reflection and decision-making activities as part of the “Playground is Nature” initiative in Barcelos. Through participatory exercises, children contribute ideas and priorities for how their school outdoor spaces can be used and transformed. Credits: Viração & Jangada. Source: Video “Playground is Nature | Barcelos, Portugal”(https://www.instagram.com/p/DUQRmDpjSKb/)
Column images
1. "Baú da Natureza” activity at António Fogaça Elementary School. Caption: During the workshop “O Mundo lá fora” (the world outside) at António Fogaça Elementary School, students created their own nature treasure box using elements collected outdoors. The activity encourages children to explore, observe and interact with nature through direct experience beyond the classroom. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos - Recreio é Natureza project. Source: Instagram @recreio_e_natureza (17 January 2025)
2. Outdoor play as a public health priority. Caption: Between December 2024 and February 2025, information sessions for parents were organised across the three pilot schools to promote the Recreio é Natureza project and address concerns about outdoor play. By bringing together public health and pediatric expertise, these sessions helped build trust around the benefits of nature-based activities and challenged common misconceptions about safety and hygiene in outdoor environments. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos. Source: TRANS-lighthouses calendar https://trans-lighthouses.eu/en/calendar/recreio-e-natureza
3. Embedding NbS in municipal governance. Caption: Mário Constantino Lopes, Mayor of Barcelos, highlights the municipality’s commitment to addressing local challenges through Nature-Based Solutions. In Barcelos, school-based initiatives such as Recreio é Natureza are embedded within broader municipal education and environmental strategies. Credits: Viração & Jangada. Source: Video “Playground is Nature | Barcelos, Portugal”(https://www.instagram.com/p/DUQRmDpjSKb/).
Gallery images
1. Nature-based playground proposal - António Fogaça Elementary School. Caption: The António Fogaça proposal integrates shaded areas, biodiversity features and play structures, based on students’ contributions. Implementation will take place between May and September 2026. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos. Source: Municipality of Barcelos - TRANS-lighthouses Pilot Documentation (2025).
2. Nature-based redesign proposal - EB 2,3 Abel Varzim. Caption: At Abel Varzim, students co-designed sensory paths, green areas and interactive outdoor elements. The proposal translates educational activities into spatial planning. Works are scheduled between May and September 2026. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos. Source: Municipality of Barcelos - TRANS-lighthouses Pilot Documentation (2025).
3. Final design proposal - Vila Cova School Complex. Caption: The Vila Cova proposal integrates biodiversity areas, structured outdoor learning zones and nature-based play elements. The project reflects students’ participatory design process. Implementation is scheduled for May-September 2026. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos. Source: Municipality of Barcelos - TRANS-lighthouses Pilot Documentation (2025).
In Barcelos, schoolyards are becoming laboratories of environmental learning and shared governance. Through “Recreio é Natureza”, Nature-Based Solutions are connecting students, educators, municipal actors and the wider school community in a sustained transformation of everyday educational space.
In Barcelos, the playground is no longer just a place between classes.
At the Vila Cova School Complex, students move through outdoor spaces with measuring tools and notebooks. Ecological observation is no longer abstract, it happens under their feet. Areas once used only for recess are being reimagined and prepared for structured biodiversity activities and collaborative environmental tasks. The physical interventions are scheduled to take place between May and September 2026.
At António Fogaça Elementary School, the arrival of the Kit Natureza, a set of books and games designed to support environmental exploration, and activities such as the creation of the Baú da Natureza (Nature Treasure Box) during the workshop O Mundo lá fora (The World Outside) did not remain symbolic gestures. They activated new routines. Outdoor space is progressively becoming part of the learning environment, not merely an extension of it, with physical works planned between May and September 2026.
Across schools such as Abel Varzim, the “Recreio é Natureza” Club sustains this energy. Students design and build projects, from a Musical Garden made with recycled materials to a Sensory Pathway Alley that invites interaction with textures and plants. Activities unfold throughout the school year, combining experimentation, reflection and adaptation. The schoolyard becomes a space of doing.
But what makes Barcelos distinctive is not only what happens inside the school gates.
The Municipality of Barcelos is not a distant supporter of the initiative, it is leading it. As a partner in TRANS-lighthouses, the municipality has embedded “Recreio é Natureza” within its broader education, nature and environmental strategies.
In May 2025, Barcelos hosted an international TRANS-lighthouses meeting dedicated to Education and Nature. The Mayor, Mário Constantino Lopes, and the former Councillor for Education, Mariana Carvalho, joined schools and European partners to discuss how these transformations can be sustained and expanded. Students presented their proposals directly in that setting, linking everyday school practice with municipal-level decision-making.
Scaling the transformation: the “Rede Escola-Natureza”
This alignment is already producing continuity. The municipal project “Rede Escola-Natureza” was created to extend the approach to additional schools in the territory, with 20 schools having joined so far. The “Rede Escola-Natureza” focuses on training in two key areas for the transformation and co-creation of playgrounds: nature-based solutions and participatory methodologies. It provides a platform with access to a repository of ideas and diverse documentation, specialised technical support, and a community of practice that will meet annually for peer reflection on the naturalisation of playgrounds.
The municipality is coordinating its efforts, creating synergies between the areas of education, environment, gardens, municipal projects, and health. The Public Health team of the municipality of Barcelos (ULS-BE) is a stakeholder in the “Rede Escola-Natureza” and has been working to raise awareness among the educational community of the importance of play and contact with nature, involving parents in this reflection.
Here, the playground is not treated as decoration. It becomes a hinge, connecting pedagogy, urban space and local governance.
Barcelos shows that when school communities and municipal leadership move together, Nature-Based Solutions do not remain small-scale experiments. They begin to shape how a territory educates, plans and cares for its public spaces.
And this is only the beginning.
Discover the results, consortium and vision of the TRANS-lighthouses project at www.trans-lighthouses.eu, explore pilot stories on the community platform at www.translighthousescommunity.eu, and follow “Recreio é Natureza” in action on Instagram @recreio_e_natureza
Scroll to the end of the page to explore the image gallery and learn more about the proposals developed by schools in Barcelos.
Featured image
Students shaping their school environment - Barcelos. Caption: Students engage in collective reflection and decision-making activities as part of the “Playground is Nature” initiative in Barcelos. Through participatory exercises, children contribute ideas and priorities for how their school outdoor spaces can be used and transformed. Credits: Viração & Jangada. Source: Video “Playground is Nature | Barcelos, Portugal”(https://www.instagram.com/p/DUQRmDpjSKb/)
Column images
1. "Baú da Natureza” activity at António Fogaça Elementary School. Caption: During the workshop “O Mundo lá fora” (the world outside) at António Fogaça Elementary School, students created their own nature treasure box using elements collected outdoors. The activity encourages children to explore, observe and interact with nature through direct experience beyond the classroom. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos - Recreio é Natureza project. Source: Instagram @recreio_e_natureza (17 January 2025)
2. Outdoor play as a public health priority. Caption: Between December 2024 and February 2025, information sessions for parents were organised across the three pilot schools to promote the Recreio é Natureza project and address concerns about outdoor play. By bringing together public health and pediatric expertise, these sessions helped build trust around the benefits of nature-based activities and challenged common misconceptions about safety and hygiene in outdoor environments. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos. Source: TRANS-lighthouses calendar https://trans-lighthouses.eu/en/calendar/recreio-e-natureza
3. Embedding NbS in municipal governance. Caption: Mário Constantino Lopes, Mayor of Barcelos, highlights the municipality’s commitment to addressing local challenges through Nature-Based Solutions. In Barcelos, school-based initiatives such as Recreio é Natureza are embedded within broader municipal education and environmental strategies. Credits: Viração & Jangada. Source: Video “Playground is Nature | Barcelos, Portugal”(https://www.instagram.com/p/DUQRmDpjSKb/).
Gallery images
1. Nature-based playground proposal - António Fogaça Elementary School. Caption: The António Fogaça proposal integrates shaded areas, biodiversity features and play structures, based on students’ contributions. Implementation will take place between May and September 2026. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos. Source: Municipality of Barcelos - TRANS-lighthouses Pilot Documentation (2025).
2. Nature-based redesign proposal - EB 2,3 Abel Varzim. Caption: At Abel Varzim, students co-designed sensory paths, green areas and interactive outdoor elements. The proposal translates educational activities into spatial planning. Works are scheduled between May and September 2026. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos. Source: Municipality of Barcelos - TRANS-lighthouses Pilot Documentation (2025).
3. Final design proposal - Vila Cova School Complex. Caption: The Vila Cova proposal integrates biodiversity areas, structured outdoor learning zones and nature-based play elements. The project reflects students’ participatory design process. Implementation is scheduled for May-September 2026. Credits: Municipality of Barcelos. Source: Municipality of Barcelos - TRANS-lighthouses Pilot Documentation (2025).
