A suburban art museum, forced to rely on an outdoor environment for a middle-school collaborative program, discovered that in fact, this large and varied landscape was the ideal setting for students to learn not only classroom curriculum, but also about themselves, their peers, and their relationship with nature. In developing and teaching this program, so removed from their normal habitat, museum educators gained new perspectives not only on their practice, but also on the developmental needs and imaginative lives of middle school students. Teachers gained new insights into their students and into the rich connections to be found in their classroom curriculum (Contains 8 notes and 2 figures.)