Nature Journal Notes

I hope everyone is having a good time nature journaling these days. Its seems like we are finally at the point in the year when the week ahead is undoubtedly filled with good weather! Hooray!
 
Today’s nature journal notes is going to focus on the more whimsical side of journaling. For the past couple of months I’ve been emphasizing the importance of making detailed observations about what we are seeing, but the reality is that not everyone wants to take detailed notes about their surroundings. Practicing our observation skills is just one part of the nature journaling process. It helps us make deeper connections with nature, but there are other ways to make that connection.
 
Below are some nature journal sketches from community members that were inspired by what they were seeing around them, but chose to take some artistic liberties. Creating doodles from the natural world is a great way to see things in a new light as well as allow us to focus on aspects such as general shapes or overall color. Awesome!

Using our imaginations to interpret our surroundings can be an incredibly helpful tool and encourages us to look at the world through a new lens. Creative writing can also be a good tool for journaling when going outside to your favorite green space is not an option.

The nature journal challenge for this week is to pick two of the prompts below and write about them in your journal!

1. Describe a memorable moment you had with nature. What did you smell, hear, see? What was happening around you? Did it have a positive or negative impact on your overall relationship with nature? 
2. If you could be one thing in nature (other than yourself) what would you be and why?
3. If you were the size of an ant, what would your life be like? Where would you live? What would you eat? How would you get from place to place?
4. Pretend you are on a hike in the woods and the trees started talking to you. What would they talk about?
5. You were able to get your hands on a time machine. You take it to your favorite green space and you travel 1,000 years into the future, what do you see? Is there anything that looks the same? Are there new plants or animals?
6. What in nature are you most thankful for? Why?
7. Write a story from the perspective of your favorite animal.
8. If you had to choose one place in nature to live for the rest of your life, where would you choose? Why?
9. Create a constellation. Then, create an origin story for that constellation. Why did people think it was so important that it needed to be remembered in the stars forever?
10. Make up an animal and describe its life. What does it look like? Where does it live? What does it eat? Does it live in groups or by itself? Where does it sleep? Is it nocturnal?

​Happy journaling and as always, if you would like to share any of your nature journal entries or have questions, email us at education.nrt@gmail.com! We love hearing from you!