Nature Journaling con la familia
A screen can show your child a forest. A nature journal makes them a part of it!
Nature journaling is the practice of recording your observations, questions, and reflections about nature. Besides the wonderful things your kid can learn from journaling, they can also form a stronger bond with themselves as a learner.
The notebook pages can be used to include pictures, numbers, sentences, questions, ideas, or drawings.
The example to the left is a sample of an entry I did in Kaminaljuyu Archaeological Area in Guatemala! Your journal can even travel with you.
The leaf drawing is done through a technique called rubbing, which I outline below.
By using a nature journal, your kid will learn to:
Slow down, pay attention, and experience awe and wonder
Develop their creativity and critical thinking skills
Nurture connection with nature
Build an inclusive culture of curiosity in the family
You can introduce these sentence starters to get the ball rolling.
I think...
What do you you see? Hear? Feel? Observe?
I notice...
Get curious and write down answers to the questions: who, when, where, what, why, how
I wonder...
Connect your observations to things you already know.
Here are some of my top tips if you’re new to the practice:
🖍️ Don’t be afraid of color! Try to capture any patterns or tones you notice so that way you can begin to memorize physical characteristics!
📏 Get measuring! Quantify your finds by metrics that work for you! Was the distance between trees 10 steps? Are leaves the size of your palm?
🍁 Leaf rubbings are such an amazing tool to accurately take down the image of a leaf. Place your leaf underneath a piece of paper and use a pencil to push down and outline the shape!
This year, I had the honor of teaching online about the power of nature journaling and its impact on language learning, mindfulness, and plant families. We learned about plants and their importance and reflected with some guided prompts.
Get a taste for the workshop by watching the full video on YouTube!
