Adventures in Nature Journaling

We ran across this great post at Greening Sam and Avery and thought it might come in handy for those of you attempting to incorporate a bit of nature journaling into your curriculum! It's full of great ideas that are sure to get your kiddos involved and learning! Here's our favorite exercise...

Find A Treasure

Preschool and kindergarten classrooms are often littered with "treasure" students have found while on the playground, walking in from the bus, or wherever else they may have ventured that day. Rocks. Leaves. Pine cones. Flowers. You name it! While it is certainly important to encourage your kiddos to find beauty and worth in the world around them, as well as stimulate creativity and use of their imagination, there's a much neater way of doing it. Armed with their nature journals and a pack of color pencils (or other graphic art material), invite your students to embark on an adventure for treasure.

Once spotted, to record its find and circumvent the need to bring the "treasure" to the classroom, have your students draw the object in as much detail as they can, writing or dictating describing words to complete the process. Consider providing magnifying glasses so that students can take a closer look and measuring tools. Just in case they want to attempt to find their treasure again, invite your kiddos to record the object's location on a map of the school yard. Back in the classroom, have a treasure hunt "show and tell", inviting your students to take turns sharing their drawings and describing what they found!

For more fantastic nature journal exercises and some excellent resource links, be sure to read the full post at Greening Sam and Avery!