Nature Journal Notes

Fall is a time for change! The transition from hot, summer days to cold, winter nights is one that plants and animals prepare for all year round. One of the amazing parts of keeping consistent Nature Journals is being able to track change over time, also known as phenology, but seeing changes on a larger scale requires keeping journals for years, and, to be honest, sometimes that is just too long!

If you are in need of a nature journal change of pace, consider honing in your focus on something more specific than general observations. The landscape changes very quickly in the fall, but the pieces of the landscape: flowers, leaves, ground cover, etc., are changing even more rapidly! A satisfying nature journaling activity during the fall can be monitoring a single area in your yard, or even one branch or leaf over the span of a week or two. 

Create a chart in your nature journal with as many squares as you want to make daily observations. Be sure to leave room for notes underneath each day of observational drawings. Everyday, at around the same time, take a moment to sketch and record observations of whatever it is you are choosing to monitor change of. At the end of your designated observation time, you should see a dramatic change in the  first day of observations versus the last.

Not only is this activity great for doing in the fall, but it's also one you can do right inside your house! Don't have a good place outside to make daily observations? Bring the outside in! Be it a flower, a leaf, or even a seed, bring it inside to monitor what changes start to occur with your nature journal change chart!

​Another perfect opportunity to track daily change over time is with jack-o-lanterns! Once we decorate our steps with festive jack-o-lanterns, it is only a matter of time before these orange delights begin to rot right in front of our eyes. Each day, you can grab your nature journal and create an observational sketch of a scooped out pumpkin to see what kind of daily changes occur, where the changes to start to happen, and where they spread! Not only are the jack-o-lanterns themselves fun to observe, but so are their seeds!
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With a little bit of attention, pumpkin seeds provide a great opportunity to watch growth and change happen right in the comfort of our homes! All you need is one pumpkin seed, a damp paper towel, ziplock bag, tape, and a window that catches some sun. The first thing you need to do is cut the paper towel so that it will fit inside of your ziplock bag when folded in half. Then, moisten the paper towel and fold it over your pumpkin seed. You should be able to see your seed through the moistened paper towel. Place the paper towel surrounding the pumpkin seed inside of the ziplock bag and zip it shut. Find a window to hang your ziplock with masking tape so that it gets an ample amount of sunlight each day. Over the course of a couple of weeks, you should be able to see your seed start to change and eventually a sprout will appear! You can use a flashlight against the back of your seed to observe in anything is going on inside the seed that isn't visible from the outside.