Use our ideas, prompts and printable nature journal pages to make your own science book: a forest nature journal and a unique record of your time in your local woodland.
How to make a nature journal for children
This guide to nature journalling will get you started on recording the things you see in your local woodland over the course of the year. You can use the journal prompts and printable journal pages to build your own forest nature journal and science book. It is a great project to include as part of your forest school activities.
Download your complete Nature Journal kit
This activity and the printables featured are taken from our Nature Explorers: Forest nature journal kit. This is the perfect nature curriculum for children who have a special interest in animals, love drawing, being outdoors, and being active.
Every page of the Nature Explorers journal gives your children something interesting to read, draw, colour, write or make. You can use the whole book in the given order or mix-and-match to suit you alongside your time outdoors. You’ll know your children are developing their reading and writing fluency and their science knowledge, while still spending a childhood outdoors in the fresh air.
The journal is full of special animal feature pages, activity ideas, and art projects to try in the forest, plus quizzes and questions to consolidate their learning. And your kids will love the two sets of animal cut-out models that are included: forest animals and bugs! They can colour them in, cut them out, and easily assemble them for play or to create model forest dioramas.
See more and get your copy of Nature Explorers: Forest here.
Materials needed to make a nature journal
:: the printable pages from the Nature Explorers: Forest kit including the Explorer Field Notes pages, the Forest Report pages and the animal information pages
:: pens, pencils and/or paints
:: a magnifying glass (optional)
:: a folder to keep your journal pages in, or a scrapbook to stick them in, or a front and back cover to bind your pages together
Make you own forest nature journal
You can use the Nature Explorers: Forest kit to make your own forest nature journal. As you work through the pages in the kit and spend time in your forest, you can build your own forest science book. It will be a record of your visits to the forest and all the things you are seeing, sketching, and learning about in the forest biome.
You can simply fasten together the pages you use, or bind them together with a front and back cover, stick them into a scrapbook or notebook, or keep them in a folder.
How to journal as a scientist
To make your journal an interesting record of your forest, journal like a scientist.
:: Look closely. Draw what you see.
:: Look again, perhaps with a magnifying glass, and draw some more.
:: Label your drawing. Note the details you can see, where you found your item, and the date.
:: Wonder. Ask questions. Think about what you see and why things look the way they do.
:: Share your findings with others. Ask them if they know about your item. Research in books and online to find out more. Learn and discover.
What to include in your science book
Make your science journal unique to you and your forest. You can put in all sorts of things to make interesting pages to look at, including:
– Copies of the Explorer Field Notes page (printable from the Nature Explorers: Forest kit) which you fill in in the forest or when you get back home. There’s space on this page to make notes about what you see in the forest, where you found your item, the date you were there, and a sketch of your item.
– Copies of the Forest Report page (printable from the Nature Explorers: Forest kit) which you can use to write reports on things you find in the forest or plants and animals that you want to research. This page allows you to go into more depth than the Field Explorer Notes page: you can look up the item you found, in books or online, to get more information about it. The left-hand column of the page gives you some quick journal prompts to get your writing started and then there is room on the right-hand column to write up your report for your journal. There’s space below to add photographs or drawings.
– The other pages of the Nature Explorers: Forest kit, especially where you have added in writing, coloured in the animals, and included your own drawings
– The collage and printmaking art projects from the Nature Explorers: Forest book
– Photographs you take while in the forest
– A map of your forest and any leaflets or newspaper cuttings/printouts you may have about it
– Your notes from the Sit Spot activity in the Nature Explorers: Forest
What else could you include?
Download your complete Nature Journal kit
This activity and the featured printables are taken from our Nature Explorers: Forest nature journal kit. This is the perfect nature curriculum for children who have a special interest in animals, love drawing, being outdoors, and being active.
Every page of the Nature Explorers journal gives your children something interesting to read, draw, colour, write or make. You can use the whole book in the given order or mix-and-match to suit you alongside your time outdoors. You’ll know your children are developing their reading and writing fluency and their science knowledge, while still spending a childhood outdoors in the fresh air.
The journal is full of special animal feature pages, activity ideas, and art projects to try in the forest, plus quizzes and questions to consolidate their learning. And your kids will love the two sets of animal cut-out models that are included: forest animals and bugs! They can colour them in, cut them out, and easily assemble them for play or to create model forest dioramas.
See more and get your copy of Nature Explorers: Forest here.
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