A Little Summer Project // Nature Journaling

"Once they experience first hand the wonder of nature, they will want to make nature observation a lifelong habit" 

- Charlotte Mason - 

We have a growing collection in our back garden... Sticks and stones, feathers and flowers, soil and snail shells. There is something about the tactile and colourful nature of the springtime garden that seems to draw children in.... Allow them to wonder at the smallest detail. Marvel at the beauty of God's creation.

Our girls have always been into art, though I will admit we were late to the party. I'm a little ashamed to admit I didn't dare broach the paint box until they were at least two and a half... I couldn't quite face the potential mess, so we held off, making the most of painting opportunities when out and about, and in the meantime focused our attention on good old fashioned colouring pencils and street chalk. Paints significantly less messy counterparts!

And so painting has always been a little bit of a treat, until more recently, when our watercolour box has graced our table a lot more regularly... And the girls are getting good, really good - learning about mixing colours and shades, capturing light and dark. I'm learning right along with them. It has been a fun little hobby that we've enjoyed developing together.

As Ava says - "There's always room for improvement!"

And then there's our other love... My like-to-be-warm-and-cosy-in-the-home girls become outdoorsy every summer without fail (unlike Jonas who is ALWAYS outdoorsy, whatever the weather!) and it's all about the exploration - every bird, every flower, every leaf, every feather is to be picked up, prodded and poked, questioned and queried. Little inquisitive minds hungry for learning.

Every trip out an opportunity for exploration and new discovery...

And so, inspired by the likes of the lovely Kristin Rogers and Jen Dees who keep beautiful nature journals with their children, I invested in three watercolour notebooks ad. Told the girls the plan.

They were thrilled.

And so, this summer, we intend to keep record of all our adventures and expeditions, record all our discoveries and natural finds. From London suburbia to the fjords of Norway, we're excited about all the learning we're going to do.

And at the end of it all, we should have a really rather beautiful and precious keepsake.

Our very own, individual, unique records of all our summer findings.

Our nature journals.

Anyone fancy joining us for the ride?