Nature Journaling - our favourite resources

We have just started Term 3 (the last term!) of Ambleside Year 1; Everly’s first official year of homeschooling. We have both really loved this year, and have both grown so much (I can’t believe just how much my brain has expanded along with hers, and how I am now used to the old English style of the Classics). It’s been a beautiful (not always easy!) adventure so far.

What Is Nature Journaling?

“Keeping an illustrated, observational journal is a centuries-old method that has been reenvisioned and refined through the lens of our understanding of neuroscience, learning, and deliberate practice. A nature journal is a lens that focuses our attention and crystalizes our observations, thoughts, and experiences.

Nature Journaling is collecting and organizing your observations, questions, connections, and explanations on the pages of a notebook using words pictures, and numbers. You do not need to be an artist or a naturalist to begin. These skills can be learned by anyone, and you can develop them with deliberate practice. The system is creative, rigorous, and playful, easy to begin and learn, and will grow and mature over a lifetime. Start now: you can do this, and the world is waiting.

Nature Journaling will enrich your experiences and develop observation, curiosity, gratitude, reverence, memory, and the skills of a naturalist. It helps you discover, think, remember, and integrate new information with your existing knowledge. Train your mind, and the world will offer you its secrets of wonder and beauty” - from the King of nature journaling; John Muir Laws

What is a nature journal?

The name pretty much says it all. It’s a dated record of what is observed in nature. Charlotte tells us in School Education, p. 236:

The children keep a dated record of what they see in their nature note-books which are…a source of pride and joy, and are freely illustrated by drawings (brushwork) of twig, flower, insect, etc.

Science, writing, poetry, art, and more are all combined into this single activity, the keeping of a nature journal. 

Nature journaling was one of the first things that drew me to Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education . I came across beautiful photos of families outside, sketchbook in hand, drawing and painting and I thought to myself that that is exactly what I would love to do with my children. Our journey hasn’t been as Instaworthy as those (most often) posed photos, but it has been a beautiful one that we are slowly growing into. I am wanting to get into more of a habit of doing it for myself, and not just alongside Everly as part of her school work. I’ve always wanted to be able to paint with watercolours, and nature journaling has been a very accessible way to start.

Materials

You really don’t need anything fancy. You can absolutely start with what you have on hand. In fact, it’s probably best to start out with what you have at home so you can get into the habit first, but, if you’re like me and you want to have everything ready before you begin and you are looking for some tried and tested materials, then read on.

It’s worth spending a bit of money on a decent set of paints (the one we use is an old palette I bought in South Korea years ago, and I love how compact and travel friendly it is).

For general arts and crafts I really like the Giotto Acquerelli Colour Blocks, but the palette is a bit big for easy grab and go nature journaling. I’m going to need to replace my current paint palette soon, and willl probably go for this Daler Rowney Aquafine Watercolour Set (R285 for the set of 12 on Art Savings Club).

What has definitely made a big difference in our actual painting is a set of decent quality brushes. The red ones pictured are from the Giotto watercolour pans, and they are great! The type of ink pen you use is also crucial as you need to be able to paint over it without it smudging. This Croxley Fineliner set R69 on Takealot) is perfect and there are 5 different nib sizes in the set. I did purchase the more expensive Pigma Micron Pens at the start of the year, but the nibs got damaged very quickly (most probably due to both of us pressing too hard) but the Croxley ones have held up well and are very affordable to replace.

Next up is paper. I’m no pro, but have found that you need at least 110gsm weight paper for watercolour painting (even higher is better!). These little A6 sized journals are the perfect size for little hands, and they come in 120gsm. The paint doesn’t bleed onto the other side (unless a lot of paint/water has been used) and they are a really nice size. Anything bigger and you tend to have tiny drawings (especially from younger students) and a lot of white space.

I bought mine from PNA last year, but I have since seen them at Makro and on AmazonSA for +-R60.

I found a small plastic box to keep all our nature journaling goodies in one place. It’s small (which does limit the size of the items it can hold!) but this little box holds both Everly’s and my notebooks, our paint palette, 2 paint brushes and our pens. The only thing we need on top of what’s inside this box, is a container of water. My next purchase will be a watercolour ‘water pen’ that holds it’s own water. You squeeze out the water, which comes out of the brush, as you dip the tip into the paint. They are so convenient for travel, and are less messy then a regular brush and water. The set below is on Takealot for R129.

A field guide is another useful resource to have on hand, and I have been told of some great apps for plant identification, but I really love the traditional feel of a book. On my To Buy list are the Sasol First Field Guide books (also available in Afrikaans) which are lovely and small enough to carry around when out and about on nature walks. They cover just about every species of fauna & flora you can think of in South Africa:

I also got my hands on a second-hand copy of Anna Botsford Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study which has been an excellent resource, even though it is based on American fauna & flora. The way it is written, with questions and prompts to ask yourself/your children as you observe, has really helped to guide our eyes and get us thinking in new ways about the natural world around us.

Also, the ladies at Simply Charlotte Mason have written a wonderful article >>> Nature Journaling: Where Science, Writing, Poetry, and Art Come Together that I found really helpful and encouraging.

Happy nature journaling!