Nature Journaling 

Prompts

In my opinion, students benefit from writing about anything they choose, indoors or outdoors. This includes writing as a way of processing, recording events of their lives, reflecting, creative writing, poetry writing, letter writing—almost anything. You may want to consider allowing students to keep their journals private, or some pages private. (If students don’t want me to read a page, I have them fold the corner of the page down.) Instead of assigning students to write in response to a specific prompt, provide them with some choices.

Below are prompts that specifically ask students to write and think about the natural setting. But remember, any prompts can be used outside.

• Zoom in on a single leaf, piece of bark, or another natural object. Record as many observations as you can in five minutes.

• Imagine you are a large, soaring bird in the sky above. Describe what you see from the air.

• Imagine you have been shrunk to the size of an ant. Describe what you see all around you.

• Look up at the clouds. What do they look like? What do they remind you of? Write a story about what you see.

• Close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you for ten deep, slow breaths. Then, open your eyes and write whatever comes to mind. Don’t judge just start writing whatever comes out.

• Imagine one of the trees you can see came to life and started talking to you. What would it say? Write your conversation.

• Compare and contrast two things that you can observe closely.

• Look up high and record what you notice. Look at eye-level and record what you notice. Look down and record what you notice.

• In what ways does nature benefit you? List as many as you can.

Making a Journal

For children in grades K-3, making small books often works great. Simple, paper books made with elastic or stapled bindings and cardstock covers are still novel to them.

However, as students get older, many will value a well-made, sturdy journal that they use for several months. Whenever possible, have students make their journals, or at least design the covers.

You can purchase plain, white, hardcover journals, and students can decorate the covers using leaves and other natural materials as stamps. They can also use paste paint with combs, adhesive applicators and erasers to make cool designs.

I have made journals from discarded hard-cover books with students in grades 5-8 with great success. (Video for how to do this is coming in January!)

Here are some tutorials and ideas that I love:

Simple, basic, easy books with beautiful covers from Babble Dabble Do

The classic mini-book that every teacher should know about, made of one sheet of paper. A nice tutorial can be found at Teachers Making the Basics Fun.