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Kids Corner: Nature Journals

YPRL Staff

6 October, 2023

Nature Journals and Sketch Books

Encourage children to begin a nature journal. Make or buy a sketchbook that is filled with blank pages. Another alternative is to have an A4 or A3 pages placed in plastic sleeves and filed in a ring-bound folder. Start by having them sit at a window and draw or write about whatever they see.

The flowers blowing in the wind, the clouds scudding overhead, the birds and insects darting about, the neighbours pets visiting the garden.

Sketching ability is not important, children will become more comfortable as they practice. It is important to remind them it is a personal diary, and they can do what they like within the pages. 

Then when you venture out, bring it with you in the car, on walks, cycling bike tracks, on holidays, to the park or nature reserve, and be encouraged to stop and observe different places.

Give yourself a few moments to draw or write about what you see. This process can make you slow down and just observe with your senses and capture the moment without technology, but with creative expression!

Your child might become attached to their journal as it slowly becomes a repository of thoughts, dreams, drawings, and little treasures from nature. Something to fondly reminisce over in years to come. Lead by example and take an interest in nature journaling yourself, as an adult, as a parent.

A close up photo of a pencil resting on a blank page in a journal

Here are some other ideas for your nature journal or sketchbook: 

  • Use words, doodles, diagrams, comic strips, or other art forms to document what lives and grows in your neighbourhood. What kind of trees, animals, flowers, birds can you see? 

  • Include date, time, location, temperature, and weather conditions on the day 

  • Visit the same spot each week and document what is happening there or what changes occurred in the past week. Are there any new plants growing there? Are leaves changing size or colour? Are things healthy and thriving, or in ill-health or dying? Are there any new signs of visitors here, such as animal tracks or scats left behind? 

  • Draw or illustrate a visual checklist of animals, plants, or other life forms that are in your area and that you would like to see. When you find them, check them off or put a sticker next to them. You can even do a little research to find out if there are rare or endangered species in your area and add them to your checklist for a challenge. 

  • Write a poem about the animals or the environment you have investigated.

  • Collect bits and pieces and glue them into your journal. Pressed flowers and leaves can begin another hobby. 

  • Take photos and add them to your journal. Photos can show the changes in seasons and environments. 

  • Older children might choose one subject and record all they can about it for example researching all the neighbourhood birds. 

  • Nature journals can have two themes: an ongoing journal which is a record of all your observations year-round, or a seasonal journal. You decide!

Make a nature journal for pre-school children: 

Easy Preschool Science Nature Journals - YouTube 

Easy Primary School Nature Journals 

Other Websites of Interest:

Also check out our other related Kids Corner Blogs: Leaf Learning and Eco - Schools!

Books to check out:

Keeping a Nature Journal: Deepen Your Connection with the Natural World All Around You

With an emphasis on learning to see and observe, Leslie shows how drawing nature doesn’t require special skills, artistic ability, or even nature knowledge, and it is a tool everyone can use to record observations and experience the benefits of a stronger connection to the natural world.

52 assignments : nature photography

52 Assignments: Nature Photography is a mission brief, a portfolio of photographic workshops, a personalized journal, and an inspirational guide to putting the creativity back into your craft. Small enough to fit into your rucksack, it is filled with a year's worth of weekly commissions and concepts for composing and creating eye-catching nature photography in all its forms.

Draw your day for kids! : how to sketch and paint your amazing life

Drawing daily is a relaxing and reassuring way to express yourself, as well as a practical way to hone art and observation skills and creativity. The book will also function as a time capsule, enabling kids to look back on their memories and feelings, as well as having a visual representation of their developing artistic abilities.

Diary of an awesome friendly kid : Rowley Jefferson's journal

Rowley's best friend Greg Heffley has been chronicling his middle-school years in thirteen Diary of a Wimpy Kid journals, but it's finally time for readers to hear directly from Rowley in a journal of his own. Rowley writes about his experiences and agrees to play the role of biographer for Greg along the way.

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