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in Crafts· Fall· Fine Motor Skills· gross motor skills· Math· Nature· Nature Walk· Year Round· Year Round· Year Round

Nature Collection Journal for Kids

You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for a low-prep outdoor activity that will keep kids of all ages busy for hours. Your kids will have fun while they craft, color, and learn with nature! Perfect for fall, winter, spring, and summer, this nature journal for kids will keep your children away from the screen and enjoying all that nature has to offer. The cover is a paper bag so it doubles as a collection bag for nature treasures! 

Here is a low-prep outdoor activity that will keep kids of all ages busy for hours. Your kids will have fun while they craft, color, and learn with nature!

I created this outdoor printable a while ago and we love it soooo much that I figured it was about time to share it with you all!

This nature journal is perfect for children of all ages because you can pick and choose nature prompts that are suitable for your child’s needs and interests. And don’t forget, the cover is a paper bag so collecting nature for the prompts is easy and contained in one spot!

Supplies

  • Nature Collection Journal
  • Lunch Bags– We bought ours from a store, but this looks like the same size.
  • Nature
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Crayons– We love beeswax crayons
  • Stapler
This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

How to Make this Nature Journal for Kids!

Step 1: Assemble the journal pages

Choose the cover you would like to use and glue it on the lunch bag on the side without the flap. Cut out the journal pages you would like to use. There are 17 different nature prompts to choose from so there is something for everyone!

There are dashed lines to guide you. Try to put the nature craft prompt pages at the end of the journal, so the natural materials are available for the learning pages in the beginning of the journal.

Here is a low-prep outdoor activity that will keep kids of all ages busy for hours. Your kids will have fun while they craft, color, and learn with nature!

Step 2: Make a back cover

I also used a paper bag for the back cover of the book, but stapled the top. I found having 2 bags available for collecting was too much for my boys to handle. I stapled the journal pages to my back cover.

Outdoor activity printable!

Step 3: Staple the front cover

Staple the front cover to the rest of the journal. Lift open the side of the bag and ONLY staple the inside half. Only staple 2/3 of the way down so you don’t staple the bottom flap. This will allow the whole bag to open and fold back up!

Outdoor activity printable!

Your bag should be able to open like this after you completed these steps! Your nature journal for kids is ready to go!

Nature journal for kids!

Here’s What We Did

First, you need to head outdoors to collect nature! Find a wide variety of nature and aim to find most of the items on the ground. Yes, my boys usually pick a couple of flowers but we love to search for rocks, sticks, leaves, pinecones, acorns and more on the ground!

I used 7 pages in the nature journal for this particular day.

We made nature rubbings by putting leaves under the paper and coloring on the journal page to expose the leaf outline and veins.

We also made a nature print by painting leaves and stamping them on the journal. Make sure you give the paint enough time to dry before turning the page!

Nature journal for kids!

We also counted nature and documented our findings on the journal page. There is a section for writing tally marks and the numbers.

Nature journal for kids!

This nature person page is always a favorite and its fun to see how our nature person changes through the season. This is our fall nature person! The fading flowers and colorful leaves look sooo beautiful.

nature journal for kids!

We love searching for symmetry in nature during our nature walks! Here is a simple hands-on way to learn about this interesting math topic. Find a leaf, cut it in half and invite your child to draw the other half. This also gives children the opportunity to look closely at the beautiful details in nature.

Nature journal for kids!

My boys LOVE tracing nature. It’s a fun way to work on those fine motor and writing skills!

Need an extension idea? Invite your kids to color in the outline when finished.

Fine motor activity!

This prompt always invokes oohs and aahs from my boys! Take a leaf (of any color), flower, or experiment with other pieces of nature and rub it in the circle! What colors do you see? This might inspire you to color with nature in future art activities!

Outdoor printable for kids!

One thing that I love about this nature journal for kids is that YOU get to assemble it, so you can decide which of the 17 nature prompt pages are best for your children!

When I first introduced this journal to my boys, I included one of every page to see which prompts they were most interested in. My boys were loving making nature people last spring, so I printed that page 10 times and made a journal with just that prompt! They loved it:) My first grader is currently loving the math activities, so last week I made a journal with just the math activities. Enjoy the process and have FUN!

Pin this activity to save it for later!

Nature journal for kids!

 

I hope you give this nature journal for kids a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more fun ideas?! Check out:

Hands-On Ways to Retell Room on the Broom

A Simple Stone Activity to Try Today!

 

« 50+ Beautiful Fall Nature-Inspired Books for Kids
Fall Nature Anatomy and Life Cycle Activities for Kids »

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