Welcome to the Plants and Trees Journal Page!
From this page, I'll be discussing the basics about how to set up journal pages about plants with some examples from my own nature journals from over the years. Sketching plants from nature can be a relaxing, enjoyable yet challenging experience. Try not to get bogged down about whether you're a great artist or not. Do your best and remember, the more you make sketches of plants, the better you'll become and the easier it will get.
Making drawings from nature is a great exercise in seeing and really getting to know the plant better than observation alone. When you sketch plants, you are disciplined to really notice the details of the plant. Regularly journaling about and sketching interesting plants from your backyard sit spot and other places you visit in nature, will enhance and sharpen your nature awareness skills. So, take along your journal and a pencil and sketch away!
Kamana for Kids: The Young Naturalist Journal Page Entry - Pages 108 - 119 - Activity Summaries
- Basic Bobcats - pages 108 - 111 - Writing down the total number of trees in your yard you can visualize in your mind before going outside to count them. Then going outside, counting all the trees in your yard and recording the result.
- Mid Merlins - pages 112 - 114 - This features a blindfold game in which a parent or sibling guides you to a tree to try different sensory awareness activities at the tree while blindfolded.
- Old Oaks - pages 115 - 119 - Answering questions about the story and making two more sketches of trees you've not drawn before.
Tree Resources
Plant and Tree Activities, Projects & Experiences
Project Budburst - A great website for participating in plant and tree observations and sharing your records with scientists
Natureglo's Tree Journal Entry
This is an entry I made of the Mockernut Hickory tree for my adult Kamana course with the Wilderness Awareness School I did back in 2010. I used a field guide to do the entry both for making the sketches and for adding the information. I encourage both sketching from real life specimens as well as from a plants field guide.
Questions to Consider about Natureglo's Mockernut Hickory Journal Entry
- What do you notice about the sketches?
- What do you notice about the colors I used for the sketches? Do you think the colors resemble the Mockernut's true colors in nature?
- Notice the information I included in the entry. You don't have to include quite as much information in your journal. Younger students may want to write less and older student may want to include as much information or more. This journal example gives you a wide scope of how much you can add to your plants journal page. You can also sketch real examples from nature.
Natureglo's MathArt Trout Lily Journal Entry
I really experienced great pleasure making these drawing and writing my observations about the Trout Lily. This wildflower is an early spring ephemeral, meaning it arrives early spring and is with us for a short time. The mottled leaves resemble a trouts mottled colors, thus its name.
Questions to Consider About Natureglo's Trout Lily Journal Page
- What differences and similarities do you notice about this journal page compared with the Mockernut Hickory journal page above? Is it more or less informative, for example.
- What seems to be the focus of the Trout Lily journal page?
Natureglo's Plant Press
Here is yet a different kind of "journal", a living journal or plant press. I just used a small photo album from the dollar store to make this. I collected various interesting plants and plant matter (save for the pale green Luna moth wings you see) and affixed them in the photo album. I then put heavy books on top of the album for several weeks to give the plants a chance to "set" or dry.