This guide to nature journalling will help you start your own nature journal. It includes ideas on what to include in a nature journal plus links to nature journal prompts and printable nature journal pages.
How to use a nature journal with children
Your nature journal is the special place where you are going to record all the interesting things you see, smell, hear, feel, eat and wonder about, through the year.
You are the author and illustrator of your journal and it is unique to you and the place where you live.
You can buy a notebook to use, or make your own. A ring-binder, art sketchbook, or a watercolour pad are great options for your journal. We like to make a circular book, with no beginning or end, which matches the cycle of the seasons.
Working en plein air
You can take your journal out on your nature walks. Find a place to sit in the forest or by the lake and write and sketch out in nature.
Many famous artists like to work ‘en plein air‘, which is a French term that means ‘in the open air’. Instead of working inside a studio, many artists like to head outdoors to paint and draw the natural world within the nature setting.
Working en plein air lets you really feel the natural world with your senses, and your writing and drawing can be inspired by all the things you hear, smell and feel, as well as what you can see.
John Singer Seargent, one of the most well-known English impressionist painters, painted a work called Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose over many nights at twilight. You can see in this video how he created the image, and the challenges he had painting outdoors, with just a short window of time each day to experience the twilight,
Working in your studio
You can also use your journal at home or at school. You might like to plan one morning each week when you update your journal. You can fill your journal with notes, sketches, painting, poems, photographs, pressed flowers and leaves, and the Seasons School printables to make it a glorious record of your year in nature.
How to 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 put in your nature journal
Click here for 13 nature journal prompts for children.
Click here for a selection of printable nature journal pages.
Click here to see how to make a year-round circular nature journal.
Nature Explorers: Forest – the interactive nature journal for children
Nature Explorers: Forest is the perfect way to add reading, writing, drawing and science to your forest adventures. This interactive nature journal will get your children reading, writing, drawing and learning as they create a unique science book about their own forest.
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 and know your children are developing their reading and writing fluency and their science knowledge, while still spending a childhood outdoors in the fresh air.
See more and get your copy of Nature Explorers: Forest here.
Download all the Spring units and printables
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Thanks, thanks, gracias, gracias, you are an inspiration for me, eres una inspiración para mi, i thank from my heart your path, agradezco desde mi corazón tu caminar, blessings to you and your wonderfull sharing gracias por compartir tus bellas creaciones, bendiciones por siempre. Rosamaria Durand, storyteller from Mexico. ????