Participating in risky outdoor nature-based activities influence students' development, play, and can improve their environmental attitudes. We aimed to investigate the attitudes of 263 Slovenian students aged 10–11 years towards the environment and the importance of participating in a one-week long outdoor education programme at the Centre for School and Outdoor Education (CŠOD). The weekly school programmes at the CŠOD integrates activities of science, sports, social sciences as well as art activities. The programmes are generally carried out in the outdoors, not in their local environment, doing practical activities, and experiments where outcomes are unknown. The main research objectives were to examine gender differences in their environmental attitudes before and after participating in outdoor education. In addition, the students' expectations of the programme and their impressions after participation were recorded. The research results show that the students' environmental attitudes changed significantly before and after participating in the outdoor education programme. The results show small but significant changes in students’ environmental attitudes and connectedness to nature after participating in the CŠOD. Female students expressed more positive environmental attitudes than male students. The results also show that students’ expectations are in line with the vision and mission of the CŠOD, especially with the emphasis on environmental knowledge and activities in nature. However, their expectations and impressions differ, which is a consequence of the CŠOD's vision and mission to integrate science, sports, social sciences, and art activities. The described multidisciplinary approach of outdoor education programmes in Slovenia represents a multilayered challenge that needs to be further explored and considered in the implementation of outdoor education.