Explore Nature Journaling with your Family

Want your family to have less screen time? Looking for an enriching way for your family to bond through shared activities? Start nature journaling with your family! A nature journal is a place to record and reflect on observations made in nature.

Through a combination of sketching, labeling, recording thoughts, and forming questions and explanations, your family can turn a trip to a local park into a journey of scientific inquiry and self-expression. Artistic skills are not required, and keeping a nature journal will encourage your family to be keen observers while connecting to the natural world. Taking time in nature, even simply being outside in the backyard, can help reduce stress. Nature journaling is an activity that helps participants be more mindful and increases awareness. You do not need fancy supplies, just paper and pencil and you can do it anywhere. It can also help increase interest in environmental conservation as journalers develop a relationship with the natural world. Nature journaling can also be a part of a citizen science project, such as Project Budburst. This project helps monitor plants as the seasons change to help gather data on how plants respond to climate change.

To join up with other people of all ages in the Bay Area, John Muir Laws hosts a Nature Journal Club with free drawing classes and monthly weekend field trips. These events are free and open to all experience levels, and you can get more information at his website. This is a great way for people to get outside and nature journal together. You can also gain inspiration and post your family’s entries on the Facebook Nature Journal Page. This is a network of people from all over the world who post their journal pages and encourage each other. Happy Journaling!