Keep a Nature Notebook

With school supplies hitting the stores, often at lower prices than you’ll find the rest of the year, consider purchasing an extra notebook or two for nature notes.

A nature notebook can be as detailed or as simple as desired. The age of the child, their writing skills, and their overall schedule are factors that determine how much time the child can give to a nature journal. But, why keep a nature journal? It makes you more aware of nature – if kids know that they’ll be writing or drawing something that they saw during the day, they will make a point of paying attention during the day to things that they can include in the notebook.

Keep the notebook beside the child’s bed along with a pencil, pen, or favorite drawing supplies. Use the five or ten minutes before lights out to encouraging your child to list one-to-five things they observed in nature that day, draw a picture of something they saw, or write a story about what they saw. This calming activity can become a habit the child looks forward to after just a few days of practice.

Write the day, date, and year at the top of the page, everyday.

Make each day’s entry on a new piece of paper. If the child writes small, then they can use a page to hold a few entries, just be certain to start each entry with the date.

If desired, include information about the weather, what the child did during the day, etc. that sets the stage for the observations.

Use words or images or both to describe something the child observed in nature. Younger children can get an adult’s assistance while older children can fill the page on their own.

Keeping a nature journal encourages observation, writing and spelling skills, and a connection to nature with an awareness of the seasons.