Nature Journaling

I am a journal lover so it’s no surprise that I love nature journaling as well. Nature journals can be whatever you want them to be. Here are some ideas of a journal to buy and what to use it for.

Nature Journals:

I have this Strathmore Sketch pad. Except mine is green and has 120 sheets. I got it at Hobby Lobby a few years ago and it’s just about full. I mostly do pencil sketches and notes but I do sometimes do water colors, chalks, and colored pencils. Once I used a very thin permanent marker to outline deer and it bled through. In that case you may want a mixed media sketch book. But why am I giving you art advice? I’m a terrible artist! I have no art background. I’ve always been bad at art growing up so I avoided art out of embarrassment. Now that I have kids I’m showing them it’s ok to be not talented at things but do it anyway. I do love drawing and sketching with them even though my 4 year old is better than I am.

Anyway, you can also just get a spiral notebook if you’re mostly going to write and not draw. Or any notebook your budget can afford and speaks to you. Pick one you love and will be proud of. One that sparks joy when you pull it out and glance through previous art days or nature days. And excites you to start sketching today.

How to Use a Nature Journal

Nature journals can be whatever you want them to be. It’s yours, so do it your way. Here are some ideas, though, to get you thinking what you’ll want to record in yours.

1. Bring it on hikes or picnics and draw one nature thing. It can be a plant, flower, bug, leaf, bird, or whole scene. Sometimes I sketch out our picnic area and put x’s where everyone sat (easier than drawing 10 stick people) so I can remember the outing. I draw different plants or trees around us. Then I write a timeline of what we did. For example on a hike we did Sept 3, 2019 when we lived in Sandy, UT I wrote:

• 9:40am-arrived at Butler Fork Trail. Was 82 when we left Sandy, 65 when we got here. Cloudy.
• Hiked a bit up the trail. Tilly has to be carried.
• Found a good stopping spot as the little kids were tired.
• Sat and sketched. Some kids sketch, some run around.
• Tilly and Andy sitting and playing with rocks. Tilly keeps handing rocks to Andy saying “Here, Annie.” And Andy just laughs and now has a huge rock collection.
• 10:45-ate lunch. Samuel got mustard all over his hands and shirt.
• Big kids kept going on the trail and climbed a rock wall.
• I read books to Tilly and Andy. Finished my sketching.
• 12:00 Took Andy and Tilly to find the big kids. Watched them rock climb for a bit. Thomas has stinging nettle rash. Kait is making up silly songs.
• Kids running up and down the hilly part of the trail, pretending it is a roller coaster. It’s fun!
• Leave at 2:00 and the 3 youngest fall asleep in the van.

2. It can be more of a weather journal and you can write the daily weather.

3. Have it be a seasonal journal and record any new observations like first dogwood leaf turning colors or 4 squirrels in your yard gathering nuts. Record the first day you see a daffodil bloom or the first blossoms on the Bradford Pear tree.

4. Draw nature scenes out of children’s books. Biscuit books by Alyssa Satin Capucilli are usually illustrated in simple outdoor scenes. Pick up any children’s story with farm animals, ducks, bears, squirrels, moose, etc and they will have gorgeous pictures. Pick an illustrator who speaks to you. I love woodland and farm animals but maybe you like prairie or grassland animals. Choose a page that is your favorite. Put the book on the table and copy something from the picture or the whole scene with your children.

5. Do leaf rubbings in different colors in the fall.

6. Draw pictures and use actual twigs or petals, gluing them on your paper.

7. Draw a nature scene from a country you’re studying.

Here are some pages from my nature journal

Nature school/hike

DRAWING NATURE SCENES OUT OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Leaf rubbings

NATURE ART WITH REAL NATURE

DRAWING WHAT NATURE LOOKS LIKE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY

Benefits of Nature Journaling

Remember, this doesn’t have to be fancy. You don’t have to be good at art to have a nature journal. You don’t even have to love nature to have a nature journal. And no one ever needs to see it. But I promise incorporating more nature into your life will bring you peace and joy in ways other things can’t. Whether it’s writing the temperature each day, watching animals more intently out the window, drawing scenes from picture books, or actually sitting outside and sketching, it’ll all help you feel grounded. You will feel that you belong here, that you are loved, that things will be ok.

It’s funny, as I was looking through my nature journal I noticed that the times I did the most journaling (whether it was hiking, sketching flowers in my yard, or drawing from books) was when my life was the busiest and most stressful. Going through the divorce, my oldest leaving home, moving across the country with 10 kids by myself. I’d think those are the times that journaling takes a back seat to things that needed to get done but I’m sure it helped me get through those scary times with more confidence.

So sit outside and draw or journal about your day once a week or once a month. Write what you see, hear and smell. Write how you’re feeling. Take time to smell the roses and your life will be so enriched. You will be calmer, more patient, more loving, and more attune to things that are most important in life.