Nature Journaling 101

I did not grow up going camping and begging to be outside hiking through the woods. (You can read more about my story here.) But I’ve seen the benefits of breathing in the outdoors, hiking a new trail, and slowing down to journal about a nature outing. I’ve inundated my Instagram feed with other moms who are nature “experts” in order to learn from them and grow my desire. Seeing their kids frolic in a forest or slop through a muddy field has inspired me to push aside my fears and get my kids outside, too. It’s not a “fear of the outdoors” that I have, but being an introverted homebody, I always need a little push to step outside. I love productivity and checking off to-do lists, so setting aside time to just take a nature walk or devote 30 minutes to painting a new bird I observed seemed to be a very unproductive use of my time. But after each time in nature I was reminded yet again of all God’s beauty that surrounds each of us and would be freshly reminded of how much I gained from nature after each outdoor encounter.

But, why keep a nature journal?

Over the past two years my love for nature journaling has only increased. Like most things in my life, I get into a groove and journal fiercely for a few days or weeks, and then it gets put onto the shelf until I feel inspired to pick it up again. It’s a messy process. Not just messy in the paintbrushes-and-markers-and-piles-of-books sense, but messy in the heart attitude sense. Sometimes the kids joyfully journal and record their findings, while other times there are lots of tears and push-back. Any routine that you’re trying to be disciplined in can be this way, though. I gently need to remind the stubborn child of the benefits of journaling and why we’re carrying on in this discipline. It’s not like this little pep talk automatically turns their behavior around (“Oh, that’s right, Mom! These books will be great keepsakes 20 years from now. Thanks for reminding me.”).

The kids obviously aren’t as invested in journaling as I am, but I hope that over time they’ll begin to see the beautiful benefits of storing up these treasured nature finds in a journal form. The benefits to our family have been: (1) a way to slow down and take notice of God’s creation around us, (2) grow our artistic abilities, (3) learn more about animals, flowers, trees and landscapes, and (4) to have a treasured keepsake.

How do I get started?

Grab a $.99 notebook from Walmart and a pencil and start! You don’t need anything fancy. (You can download my simple Nature Journal PDF here.) If you are at the point where you want to add in some fancier supplies, here is our journaling supplies list. Don’t worry about it looking picture perfect either! I always encourage the kids to do their best work, and I know about what level of effort I should expect from each of them, but I don’t expect their drawings to look like the ones they are copying from in the book. But I DO expect for them to look better than stick figures. Since this is a part of our schooling, I do want them to learn and grow through this process.

I often get complimented on my drawings, but I was NOT born an artist! I always draw by looking at a clip art image or a simple drawing from a good book. I encourage my kids to do the same. When you don’t have an innate artistic sense, you really can’t draw without looking at a physical object or an image. I usually google “simple clip art of ____________”.

If you’re not sure what topics to journal about, here is a short list of ideas to get you started:

Look out your window and observe the nature outside (birds, insects, squirrels, landscapes, flowers, trees, etc.)
read a nature-themed book (children’s book or novel) and journal about what you learned
research your pet (or a pet that you want!) and draw/write about it
take a hike or a walk down your street and use a parent’s phone to take pictures of nature that you see; journal about it when you get home
visit a local nature center and journal about what you observed (inside or on a trail)
check out books from your library on various National Parks or monuments you’d like to visit and journal about them
visit a local farm and ask the farmer questions about their animals; journal about your experience
visit a museum with a nature-theme and journal about what you learned
take a “color walk” (walk in nature with your family while everyone looks for living things of a certain color); journal what you discovered
create questions to ask a Park Ranger; then visit a National Park and interview a Ranger, recording their answers in your journal
take a hike after a particularly rainy (or snowy) day and see how many muddy or snowy animal prints you can find; draw and identify them in your journal