Outdoor play environments offer a wide range of potential affordances to both teachers and children. Teachers' pedagogy is a strong determining factor in children's ability to utilise the affordances of a particular environment. This article describes the way in which a group of teachers and children in a New Zealand education and care centre viewed and interacted with "the wild woods", a nearby large wooded natural environment. All children and teachers spent time in the woods at least once a week. The researcher spent one morning a week for 10 months in the centre and accompanied the group to the woods. The teachers had differing levels of participation and interaction with the children, and differing beliefs on how much the environment should be shaped and enhanced. These differing pedagogical approaches had a clear impact on the children's experiences. The impact of the differing pedagogies on the children's experience of the natural environment are documented and the implications for teaching and learning in outdoor environments are discussed.