• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • family
    • kids
    • motherhood
    • recipes
  • homeschool
  • DIY
  • lifestyle
    • Style
    • Travel
    • Gift Guides
    • Parties
  • Subscribe
  • About Me
    • Collaborate
    • Disclaimer & Privacy Policy
  • Nav Widget Area (Left)

My Simple Wild

a motherhood & simple living blog

April 17, 2020 / homeschool, kids

Free Printable Kids Nature Journal

When my family is exploring in the woods, it can be easy for us to feel hurried or that we must reach our destination, even if there isn’t really one set. I have to constantly remind them and myself to s l o w down and look around to observe everything around us. We get into this quick-paced rhythm of hiking and though that is wonderful for getting your heart rate up and those lungs pumping, you can miss SO much. So to force us to slow down a bit sometimes, I created this free printable kids nature journal for my son to fill out during our nature walks. I figured I would share it with my lovely readers, too!

It is a simple journal that you can print out on paper or card-stock from your home printer. You can staple it together or punch holes and thread yarn through it. You can print several copies out at a time so that when you fill up the first journal, you have another one ready to go!

Why start a nature journal?

If you don’t live in a wooded rural area, you can still have your child observe and record nature! You don’t even have to leave your own backyard. A nature journal helps your child take a closer look at their surroundings, even if you have a small patch of grass. It encourages them to use all five senses to observe all the little details. Nature journaling encourages children to get creative, use descriptive words, and to sit still for a few moments to observe and record.

free printable kids nature journal

A few helpful tips :

Keeping colored pencils or crayons in a little bag or tin that stays with the journal is helpful for when you are heading out the door in a hurry. We try to keep most of our adventure bag supplies in the bag and ready to go. We just grab a quick snack and fill our water bottles right before leaving. Because the journal will be printed on paper, I recommend bringing a small clipboard along so that your child can write and draw on a hard flat surface. My son is a BIG snacker, like most kids. Halfway through our walk we usually stop for a snack and that is a perfect time to bring out the nature journal while they kids are munching. Fruit snacks, trail mix, granola bars, applesauce pouches and pretzels are my son’s favorites.

Keeping pocket-sized field guides in your adventure bag is really helpful, too! We have local guides and pamphlets to help us identify different wildflowers, plants, butterflies, and trees. My son’s favorite is a little animal tracks book that he never leaves the house without. The de-thawing earth is making it a perfect place for clear animal tracks right now and he always has his head down scanning the ground for different tracks.

On the first page there is an adventure bag checklist where you can add in a few other items you and your family like to bring on hikes. In addition to the items listed, my son also likes to bring his wood slingshot, a pair of gardening gloves, rope, and extra socks. It’s mud season here in Montana so we have all had our share of soaked feet and needing a fresh pair of socks. My son has a kid-sized lasso he plays with and we have actually used that rope more than a few times in a pinch! Our little yorkie fell down the extremely steep muddy bank into the river and we used the rope to lower ourselves down to grab him without having to go completely into the freezing river. Then the other day my son got stuck in the mud so deep it was almost to his knees and about lost his boots! We used the rope to pull him out and then I lowered myself down the bank to grab the boots. Who knew a toy lasso would have come in handy so many times !

free printable kids nature journal

Here are a few great field guides:

I really like the pamphlets because they aren’t as heavy as lugging around books. Plus they are usually laminated so they don’t get ruined in the mud.

In this nature journal you will find spaces for children to write and sketch about different birds, insects, and leaves that they find. There are a couple pages that they can fill out about things they see, smell, and feel around them. This gets children to slow down and observe their surroundings, while learning about the five senses.

The pages that have a large circle are for kids to draw what they see that day and then log the date, time, location, and weather.

There are so many pages I could add to this journal! If there is something you are specifically observing or studying with your kids, you can always take blank pages to add to the middle of the journal and write in your own prompts. Perhaps you are learning about trees or butterflies… or your child takes an interest in bird watching. You can find other printable journals on Pinterest and Etsy or you can make your own!

I do hope you enjoy this nature journal! Please share this post with your friends!

Ready to start journaling with your kiddos? Grab the free printable here.

Tips for printing:

Print the first page (the cover) separately. Next you will print page 2 and 3 together, double-sided flipped on short edges. Then comes pages 4 and 5, then 6 and 7, all double-sided and flipped on the short edge. I recommend printing this out on card-stock if you have it! I just ordered some from Amazon.

If you enjoyed this post, check out:

DIY Nature Wall Art Craft For Kids

Holiday Gift Guide For The Nature-Loving Child

Visual Schedule For Children- Morning and Bedtime Routines

free printable kids nature journal

This post may contain affiliate links. To read my full disclaimer click here

Next Post
Previous Post

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. Diana says

    April 17, 2020 at 11:50 pm

    I love this idea! Journaling has so many benefits and so does getting outside, perfect way to combine the two!

    Reply
  2. Yana says

    April 18, 2020 at 4:37 am

    Love this idea. I try to get my kids to journal more now that we are stuck at home 🖤

    Reply
  3. Surabhi says

    April 18, 2020 at 7:30 am

    Great idea to prepare a journal with nature

    Reply
  4. Jazmin says

    April 19, 2020 at 3:35 am

    This is an awesome idea!

    Reply
  5. Brittany Charnley says

    April 19, 2020 at 7:17 am

    a nature journal sounds so rad!!! we’ve been doing nature walks and scavenger hunts! love this

    Reply
  6. Marysa says

    April 20, 2020 at 1:47 am

    What a beautiful journal! I love this idea, and this is an awesome time for kids to connect with nature.

    Reply
  7. Cyndi Buchanan says

    April 20, 2020 at 2:56 pm

    What a beautiful journal. This would be perfect for us to take with us during our walks around our neighborhood.

    Reply
  8. Jasmine Hewitt says

    April 20, 2020 at 3:53 pm

    i ve this, we do a lot of nature themed stuff wth distance learning

    Reply
  9. Sarah says

    April 20, 2020 at 3:57 pm

    I love this printable so great for kids

    Reply
  10. vidya says

    April 21, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    this is such a cool journal… very useful for those walks now or simply in the backyard

    Reply
  11. Clarice says

    April 22, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    This is really nice! The layout is clean and content is so appropriate. Would love to make use of this when this is all over and we can enjoy outside. Thank you for sharing this.

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Welcome! I’m Natalie. I am a rocky mountain mama who just recently relocated to the blue ridge mountains! Here I share all things motherhood, homemaking, homeschooling, and slow living. I hope you follow along as we share this next chapter of our lives. I am so glad you are here! Grab a cup of coffee and stay awhile

Follow My Simple Wild

Categories

Join the Tribe

Popular in Lifestyle

A Mom’s Lazy Girl Guide To a Stress-Free Morning Routine

Popular in Travel

travel toiletries checklist

Travel Toiletries Checklist + What’s In My Carry On

Popular in Food & Drinks

Raspberry Almond Mini Muffins

Archives

Follow Along @mymountainwild

I make a double batch of this hot cocoa mix every I make a double batch of this hot cocoa mix every Winter and keep it in a big glass jar on my counter. It’s affordable, only 4 ingredients, and you there’s no extra ingredients you can’t pronounce. Stovetop hot cocoa is still my favorite, but for a quick hot sweet drink after being outside in the cold, this is nice to have. 
 I find it easier to just work in one batch at a time for the blender to blend the mix evenly. 
 The whipped cream makes this so perfectly creamy and I love adding in a candy cane,too. We do try to limit red dye 40 as much as possible in our home, anyone know of a candy cane brand that doesn’t have it ?? 

Hot cocoa mix 
DIY hot cocoa mix 
4 ingredient hot cocoa mix
The Barnett boys are getting very excited for Chri The Barnett boys are getting very excited for Christmas! This is such a magical season, I just love it. 
🎄❄️🎅☃️🛷
Happy Saint Nicholas day! Liam and Theo left their Happy Saint Nicholas day! Liam and Theo left their shoes on the front porch last night to find an orange, a candy cane, chocolate gold coins, a chocolate santa, and a prayer card. 
One of our favorite traditions! 
Also, Christmas schooling is just my favorite!😍 
This year we are doing the three week advent Connected Christmas from @treehouse_schoolhouse because we’ve been using the same advent study for the last few years and I wanted to switch it up. It’s been really fun so far and Liam has been loving the surprise of a new book and coordinating activity each day. 
It’s been very cozy and we haven’t even made it downstairs to our homeschool room this week because we are either cuddled up on the sofa, or around the kitchen table, eating and drinking hot cocoa or tea. We have been doing lots of reading and partying and singing. I am so incredibly grateful that we can homeschool so that we can enjoy these moments together.
Do you celebrate St. Nicholas Day ? If so, what are your traditions?
This has been the fastest year of my life. Time se This has been the fastest year of my life. Time seems to be flying by at an astonishing speed. Anyone else ? 
I keep thinking we just moved here and realized it’s been almost a year in VA ! How on earth is that even possible? 
At the same time, it feels like it has been years since we’ve been in Montana and a lifetime since Denver. I feel like Theo was just born but also I feel like baby Ben has been here with us for ages. Time is weird. I remember as a child, I would roll my eyes to adults talking about how fast I was growing and how time was flying. To me, time moved at a snails pace and I just couldn’t wait for the next big thing. To be double digits old, to be a teenager, to be out of high school… even when I became a mama with my first, I was always looking forward to his next milestone. It will be easier once he sits up, when he starts to crawl, when he talks, when I can send him to school. As a young first time, mom, with no real support system or family around, I think I was in survival mode for a long time. I wish I could go back and savor each and every moment, and not always be looking ahead. Now in this season of my life, it can be hard for me to look ahead at all. I can’t even imagine Ben and Theo older. Or my almost 11 year old as a high schooler. 
I miss the days when the time between breakfast and dinner seemed like an eternity. When I was a child bored sitting outside in my backyard creating and imagining magical worlds and completely unaware what time it was. 
Anyone relate?
We spent Thanksgiving down in NC with my family an We spent Thanksgiving down in NC with my family and had such a good time. We did a lot in just a few days, but Liam’s favorite part was catching lizards with his cousin. Look at that grin ! 
My favorite part was going through our old family slides and getting in a quick kayak trip with my sisters. It was fun to be all together for meals and seeing the kids hang out. Liam has never grown up around any cousins because we’ve always lived in a different state. It made me sad for what he may be missing out on. When I was a child, my dad’s side of the family got together for Christmas and the house was full with kids running around. I have some really great memories in that house. We do try to see my immediate family for Christmas at least every other year, and this year we combined Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a chaotic but special time. I was really missing my sisters and wish they lived down here. But I’m actually closer to Illinois than I have ever been. And I’m only 5 hours from my folks now. It’s been 12 years this December since we left home to move out West. (Feels longer) 
Holidays are usually the hardest for me, and I get so homesick. Now I have a weird feeling of missing my sisters in Illinois but also crazy homesick for Montana. These past few weeks my heart has ached for home there. I never missed Colorado like I miss Montana. My entire family misses it there and sometimes I wish we never had to leave. If only it wasn’t a 36 hour drive from my parents in NC ! 😩 And I do cherish all this time I’ve been able to spend with my parents here. 
Do you live away from your home state ? Do the holidays make you homesick too?

Copyright © 2023 · My Simple Wild · Designed by Bella Creative Studio

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok