Most of the recent school changes are focused on improving the interior spaces of schools and building smart classrooms, with little change in the exterior spaces. Rather, in recent elementary school space innovation projects, the proportion of exterior spaces is decreasing, and more and more schools are losing their playgrounds. Accordingly, this study examines the elements of change in the exterior space according to changes in the future educational environment, focusing on elementary schools where exterior activities are important, and derives key planning elements for creating eco-friendly exterior spaces necessary to become sustainable future green schools. As a first step, we examined the composition, characteristics, and key planning elements of the exterior space of elementary schools, and derived key eco-friendly planning elements along with the overall components of the exterior space through on-site investigations centered on nine elementary schools among the green smart future schools that were completed or are scheduled to be completed by December 2024 as part of the school education environment improvement project since July 2020. The results of the survey showed that the most planning elements were applied to the resting and playing spaces in terms of spatial composition. In terms of the application rate for each item, the boundary space showed the highest at 86.7%, followed by management space at 80%, movement space at 77.7%, resting space at 67.7%, and green space at 57.8%. On the other hand, in terms of eco-friendly planning elements, it was found that eco-friendly planning elements were reflected more in the resting and playing spaces than in other items. In addition, when checking the application rate of eco-friendly planning elements by space, it was found that exercise space was highly applied at 100%, and layout items were highly applied at 97.2%, followed by movement space at 79.6%, resting space at 79%, green space at 73%, service space and energy and resource conservation at 69.4%, and play space at 66.7%, which were relatively high. Water Space and other spaces showed 33.3%, learning spaces at 43.1%, and building surroundings at 44.4%, which were low application rates. Accordingly, we investigated the planning elements and eco-friendly planning elements that are the focus of planning the external space of domestic green smart elementary schools, and how these planning elements are actually composed. It is expected that this study can be used as basic data for future eco-friendly plans for elementary schools in Korea and guidelines for improving external spaces.