Any opportunity to examine life through a new lens is a gift. The time we spend outdoors provides a different vantage point. The smells and sounds that flood the senses as we walk in nature shifts thinking and puts us into a more mindful state of being.
What is Nature Journaling?
Nature journaling is simply the act of recording observations we make in the wild. These can be about the sky, bird songs, and trees we encounter, or about internal revelations that surface as we walk. Sketches, paintings, poems, and narrative text are all methods used to record these moments.
The Benefits of Nature Journaling
- Nature journaling sharpens our focus. When we stop to record observations, we look more closely at details. We see more. We notice patterns.
- Time in nature helps declutter and quiet overactive thinking.
- New ideas and creative inspiration grow roots in the wild.
- Inspired learning takes hold as we learn to identify new birds, insects, flora and fauna.
- As we cultivate deeper awareness of nature’s cycles and rhythms, we become better stewards of the environment.
- Time outdoors is invigorating and infuses all forms of self-expression with vibrant energy.
- Multiple studies show a correlation between time in nature and mental health.
How to Get Started
Just like most journaling techniques, there is no right or wrong way to keep a nature journal. Some journals are filled with words, while others burst with bits of art and treasures collected on walks.
You may choose to journal while you are out on your walk. If so, you’ll only need a lightweight journal, pen, and art supplies. Or perhaps you’d prefer to carry home a few souvenirs from your walk—an acorn or a bird’s feather as reminders of moments to write about when you return home.
Nature Writing Prompts
Its liberating to be out in nature without an agenda, task list, or actual plan. And yet it can also be grounding to enter a new environment with one’s eyes turned to a goal or purpose. If the latter point resonates, take some of these ideas on your next walk in the wild.
- Experiment with leaf rubbings
- Revisit a special spot each week for a year and note the changes the seasons bring. Make measurements. Note changes of color. Observe plants going to seed or just about to blossoms. Sketch or write about the processes at play.
- Keep a catalog of birds, flowers, trees and insects you spot. If you see something you can’t identify, snap a photo or make a sketch. Bring home the picture and look it up.
- Carry an animal tracks identification book and follow wild “footsteps†through snow and mud. See where they take you, and write about the places you wind up.
- Create nature stamps with goodies collected on your walk. Decorate your journal with them.
- Bring a question on your walk or a problem you are wrestling with. Walking in nature provides new clarity. When you are able, write down what you discover.
Nature Journaling with Children
Nature journaling is a way to get outdoors with your child and connect them with the environment in meaningful ways.
This moment together can be relaxing and grounding. It will evolve naturally with little preparation on your part. There’s no need for much structure or planning. Rather it’s a time to move slowly with your child—or to race through a nature-made obstacle course if that’s their thing! It’s a moment to wake up to the amazingness of everything that surrounds us.
Help your child see what’s happening beneath their feet and high above their heads. Guide their eyes toward the complex ecosystems that surround them. Count how many shades of green and brown your child can see. Encourage the use of all five senses as they walk. What do they see, smell, touch, hear, and (if you know how to safely identify wild foods) taste?
When your child is ready to rest, find a warm sunny patch of grass. Drink some water, and then pull out those journals. You may be amazed by the ways your child fills the pages.