More ideas for journal entries

Freedom Park, the lake side, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Some time ago I wrote about my process for nature journal entries (you can read about it here). In general, I use drawings and words to describe my daily experiences.

A nature journal doesn’t have to be limited to illustrative artwork or words about your subject, especially for kids. Home school or independent projects can include fun ways to explore and express the things we learn about the natural world around us.

If you are stuck for ideas, try choosing one item from each column below to mix and match, or use them as a starting point for your own imagination.

A menu	for a bird	in your yard
CD cover	a mammal	at a nearby park
Diagram	a habitat	in your community
A map of	water creatures	at your school
A game	plants and animals	last month
Chart	a food web	in wetlands
Interview	things that fly	in the summer

When I was at the park yesterday, I decided to try a map of a habitat (a map of...a habitat...at a nearby park). The more I looked at the habitat I chose (a lake and its surroundings) – the more I realized the sheer numbers of different plants and birds there were! So I did a small portion of it (top drawing). I didn’t feel that my drawing showed the ups and downs of the land, and how it transitioned into the water very well, so then I did a cross-section. That led me to consider all sorts of things…

Next, I went to the swampy end of the park and created a cross-section of two kinds of water: still water and moving water. I also wrote down what I saw, heard, smelled and felt as a way to capture the experience. Now I remember that time vividly!

Be open to new ways of recording your observations. Think about adding new media to your nature journal such as photography, collage, poems, music lyrics, rubbings, prints, or computer-generated works. We are open to new interpretations when we create in new and different ways!

Click on either drawing to view larger on my Flickr photostream.

Thanks for visiting!