FEATURE
Nature Journaling:
An Interpretive Tool For All Ages
As an interpretive naturalist, I’ve taught a variety of ages from preschool through seniors in various program topics around nature—from the parts of an insect to the impacts of invasives on a wetland ecosystem. The landscapes of Colorado are ones I’ve grown up in, and I love to share my passion for them in my programs. Also, like many interpreters, I strive to encourage my community to take action to help protect our natural spaces from anthropogenic (human-caused) changes, taking example from Leave No Trace principles, for instance.
When I entered the field of interpretation as a summer camp counselor, nature journaling was an activity that we introduced to the kids at nature camp. I’ve always had an interest in art (mostly painting and photography) so I found I enjoyed the activity just as much or more than the campers did. Nature journaling allowed me to capture some of the amazing patterns, shapes, and colors that I came across while traveling, hiking, or tending my garden at home. The swirl of a snail’s shell to the amazing complexity of a fern leaf—the fine details that you only discover through the attempt to recreate was fascinating to me.
When I started leading older audiences in interpretive programs, I found that incorporating artistic elements into the program was just as enjoyable for adults as it was for kids. But what I also saw with older audiences was a deeper appreciation to detail and an “aha” moment when they discovered something new from nature that was right under their noses—something they had passed over everyday but, by looking closely to recreate it in a journal entry, they paid attention.
With nature journaling, I’ve discovered perhaps the best interpretive tool to have a creative, lasting, and relevant impact on program participants. It does not even require great language or expert artistic skills so long as the participant engages their visual and emotive creativity. As Linda Chorice pointed out in a 1997 article from the Missouri Department of Conservation, nature journaling can capture a personalized, memorable experience, which can lead to emotive connections that spur behavior change. The best part about using nature journaling in interpretive programs is that journaling activities are easily adaptable for all ages, cultures, languages, and environments while having a minimal footprint on the natural space.
Interpretive naturalists also don’t need to have piles of completed nature journals on their shelf to be able to lead an activity in natural journaling. Nature journal entries can have a wide variety of sketches, notations, or additions with leaf rubbings or photos—every nature journal will be as unique as the many abilities and minds of the participants. Having a journal is not even a prerequisite—a stack of paper can be sufficient to capture several nature journal entries. Basic materials needed to accomplish most journal entries are simply a paper and pen.
Throughout my time in informal education, I’ve found myself drawn to using artistic activities to engage and spark connections between program participants and the natural setting of the local landscape. Nature journaling is a common activity in youth environmental education, specifically in inquiry learning, to develop a variety of skills as Janita Cormell and Toni Ivey point out in Science Scope (2012). This creative activity can also be used with adult and family audiences as a low-cost and accessible way to engage and encourage environmental empathy, awareness, and stewardship.
Window view of the bay from Lopez Island, Washington State, during a spring vacation. Photo by Anna Hoover.
Youth might make sensory observations in a nature journal to better understand the habitat components: making note of where there is food, water, shelter, or space. Adults might focus on observations of the habitat quality: drawing lake levels, questioning the size of the tree canopy, listening to presence or lack of insects. Yet all participants might make more intangible connections to their journal subject such as recalling a memory or capturing the emotional impact of the area in their nature journal. Both prompts can lead to a discussion on what it takes to make a habitat healthy and thriving. But the intangible connections are what can lead to lasting empathy or behavior changes.
Recording thoughts, feelings, and connections from a natural area in a nature journal establishes the emotional connection (either positive, neutral, or negative). This emotive connection to the time and space of the entry forms a memorable pathway for participants to revisit that experience when they return to their nature journal entry months, or even years, later. Having the ability to recall the feeling a natural space evokes is such a memorable way to get participants to engage and effective activity to encourage participants to focus on what’s happening in nature.
Photograph of Woolly Bear caterpillars from Yellowstone National Park, 2023. Photo by Anna Hoover.
Nature journal entry from my Woolly Bear caterpillar encounter in Yellowstone. Photo by Anna Hoover.
One memorable journaling experience that I reminisce about periodically was from when I was on a trip to Yellowstone National Park in late September. Just before the afternoon storm came in, my husband and I encountered a trail area that had hundreds of caterpillars on short, purple-flowering bushes on the cliff side of the trail. They were cute wiggly worms and fuzzy, but with white spikes that looked like sharp thorns about a half-inch long. I excitedly took several pictures with my phone before the storm came rolling in, curious as to why there were so many and what kind of moth they would turn into.
On cue, the storm started pouring, and we quickly left to take shelter in the next visitor center down the road. As I was reviewing my rushed photo shoot with these tiny park residents, another park visitor overheard me showing the dozens of photos to my husband and giggled at us. Of all the things to take notice of in a national park, I took pictures of small, worm-like creatures instead of the majestic views or the larger wildlife often seen around the park.
As a naturalist, I felt proud in the moment to have noticed the small, but fascinating, caterpillars that called Yellowstone their home. For the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about those poor caterpillars weathering the torrential downpour and thundercracks or, worse yet, the predicted freezing nights coming soon. That night, I made a journal entry asking questions about those caterpillars, capturing that feeling from that conversation, and my notations looking up the species (they were Woolly Bears, and those that survived through metamorphosis eventually turned into Isabella Tiger Moths). Going back to my nature journal many months later, this one journal entry reminded me of that day—what I learned about those caterpillars and how those little creatures made me feel about the wildlife in a national park.
Nature journaling at its core is simply recording natural observations on paper, sketching specimens or landscapes, mapping the sounds and features surrounding the observable space, and writing the thoughts, questions, and facts discovered through the journaling process.
An example of using nature journaling in a formal education setting would be guiding a class of students to make repeat observations of a wetland. Creating journal entries across several weeks to months (or even years) helps the students to observe and experience what changes in the ecosystem over time by capturing their initial observations, questions, concerns, and hopes for the area. Over this time, they can see for themselves through their journal entries the various signs of human impact (e.g., newly planted restoration area, a general increase in invasive vegetation, wildlife interacting with plastic pollution, or an eroded trail from heavy foot traffic). The same effect can be done in an interpretive program by providing older photos or journal entries for participants to compare and react to as they take note of the changes. Seeing first-hand changes can lead to the emotional reaction that can inspire participants to make lifestyle changes or at least care about the future of a place.
Most visitors don’t have access or great exposure to the data that shows ecologists and scientists the impacts humans make on the environment, but the individual observations in a nature journal can make those patterns personal, make those changes relevant to their lives, and invite participants to make decisions to either act on or ignore those changes. So, just a few entries in a nature journal can lead to encouraging environmental empathy and behavioral changes (from willingness to pick up trash in the area to engaging with voting processes) to protect a natural area. That empathy can encompass more motivation than reports with big numbers and scary statistics. This can be especially effective for restoration focus areas, as participants can see the before and after restoration impacts of different vegetation and wildlife sightings during a shorter period. This can help participants champion your restoration efforts by providing opportunities for visual and written community engagement.
For teaching natural journaling, or for anyone who wants to keep a nature journal, it’s helpful to not think of their journal as an artistic masterpiece but as an output for their emotional and physical observations in a natural space. Framing nature journals as a place to collect observations can help guide participants to make meaningful connections during a memorable experience in nature. The key to making nature journaling impactful for interpretive programming is to provide the guiding prompts or feedback to help participants find patterns or recognize the ecological changes over time. Nature journaling is a skill that once developed can help support a holistic daily practice of observing nature, whether it’s the observed sounds, smells, sights, textures, temperatures, humidity, or spiritual occurrences experienced. But the context of time is removed in the short span of a single program and benefits from the guidance of an interpretive guide.
All necessary supplies to nature journal (paper, pen/pencils, sharpener, and nature). Photo by Anna Hoover.
Journal entry of mushrooms study found in West Virginia. Photo by Anna Hoover.
Nature and art have been intertwined for ages, and using nature art to motivate conservation action has been seen across many landscapes. From sharing the grandiose unseen landscapes of national landmarks in the Art & Conservation Movement to creating everyday tranquility in nature, art found in the luminism movement has inspired viewers to visit and preserve natural areas. Yet, having the skill to create or teach large masterpieces or the resources to train everyday people how to paint nature art is not feasible for many interpretive site staff or volunteers. That’s where the beauty of nature journaling comes in—it can be taught across a variety of landscapes with minimal materials or artistic skill as long as one can create simple shapes and color. Yet those simple shapes and color can capture experiences that have a lasting effect in an interpretive program.
I use nature journaling for my own observations but I also use it in my programs and have integrated it in several aspects of the nature center I work at. It can be as simple as an observation table with magnifying glasses, prompt, and paper for visitors to a full two-hour program on ecology basics of a tree where participants can gain the skills and confidence to continue their nature journal for years to come. Seeing the impacts that sharing my journal entries have on people, and how those ideas grow over time or across person to person, is why I love interpretation.