Nature Journal Styles and Techniques: Part 1 Guiding Principles
Nature Journaling is a broad term. It can refer to highly visual field guides and beautifully illustrated personal journals. It can be a mostly written account filled with charts, graphs, and data or sketches from a beach vacation scattered with poetry. There is a lot of liberty to take when making a nature journal but some guiding principles I've found helpful are:
1. Do not criticize another's nature journal. It a very personal thing and the biggest value is found in making it your own as you connect with nature. This is not to say that you should leave wrong assumptions alone but that the nature journal is not a writing assignment, or a drawing class. It is appropriate to ask questions or encourage more detail but it is not the place for correcting handwriting, grammar, or form.
If you do see them writing something like "worms can fly" first get to the bottom of their thought process. Are they thinking of a worm like a caterpillar? If so you can help them explore the similarities and differences, then explore the topic further through books and careful observation. Did they see one getting dropped? Discuss the difference between flying and falling. Where they just using their imagination? This is great! but a better place for it would be a creative writing practice (expand the story here) and encourage them to use their nature journal for real observations.
2. Encourage them to write while it is fresh. Some families like to take the journals with them into the field. Some like to bring the field home with them (with samples) and others will just write from memory when they get home.
All 3 methods have value but the important thing is to not wait too long between the observation and the recording so that you get your best/ most detailed work. If you bring the journal into the field with you you can record live information- this is ideal for data collection or gesture drawing the draw back is your journal tends to get weathered faster but I prefer to think of it as warn in! If you bring samples back with you they have the benefit of seeing it out of context with can lead to more focused attention/ interest at a science table in the home. The hard thing is that you are seeing it out of context so you cannot see how your specimen reacts and interacts in its environment and if it was a plant it will deteriorate rather quickly. Going from Memory is a great practice in memory work and teaches them to pay close attention to what they are observing, knowing they won't be able to reference it when they go to write/draw about it. The draw back is that they won't be able to reference it and may record false or fuzzy information.
3. Lead by example. They want to do what you are doing and you will be surprised at the value you get out of this exercise. It helps you appreciate your surroundings and the work put into their journals, it is meditative, and helps you learn how to focus your attention and be careful in your expression, all the things we hope our children will gain from the practice. Further more if you are an artist it can give them something to aspire to and if you are not you can show them that it it is worth doing even if they don't feel like they are producing art in their notebooks.
4. Ask for narration. Either written or drawn or verbal and recorded by you in their journal ask them what they are seeing, why they think the animal is behaving like that, how how the sunflower turns towards the sun. Encourage them to write down their questions as well so they can discover more through investigation both at home through books and media and in the field. When they narrate they are recording the information in their own minds and have to understand what they are saying enough to articulate it.
5. Try different styles. Let them work with different media types (water color, pencils) sometimes even try a canvas and paint or pastels. Help them to learn how to count, chart, graph, compare and contrast. As they are exposed to different ways of recording their observations they will learn to see the world in different ways and find a voice that works with the way their mind works.
In the next part in this series I will discuss different techniques you can use with your nature journals. In part 3 I will discuss ideas for activities and locations.