Nature Journal From Your Window

1. Choose a window in your home where you can see a bit of nature such as a tree, grass, or a bush. Bring a piece of paper and some coloring utensils.
2. Start by writing the date, time, and location in the upper left corner of your paper. Example: “April 28th, 2020 at 10:52am at the window in my living room.”
3. Spend 5-10 minutes looking out your window and write down a list of what you notice.
1. Do you notice any plants, birds, insects, flowers, leaves, or clouds?
2. Count up all the different things you noticed.
3. Did you notice more than 10 things? Less than 10?
4. Choose one of the parts of nature you wrote down to focus on further. Repeat this step as many times as you like.
5. Describe the part of nature that you are observing.
1. What colors does it have?
2. How big is it?
3. What does it remind you of? Example: Small plant with pink flowers: Out my window I notice a small plant with pink flowers. The flowers are on stems that grow up and away from the plant. On each stem there are 1-5 flowers with buds of flowers that have not yet opened. The leaves of the plant are long and skinny, about the length of my hand. The plant is small though and is only about a foot high. It reminds me of cotton candy because of the color of the flowers and the way they are growing in bunches on long stems.
6. Sketch the part of nature you are observing
• You can draw it alone or choose to include the surrounding scenery.
7. What do you wonder about it?
• Write down any questions you have about what you can see (or what you can’t see).
8. Snap a photo of it if you can! Use inaturalist to help you identify the plant or animal you were observing.

Optional: Come back to your window on another day and repeat this activity. Afterwards, think about if you noticed any patterns. Did you see the same things? Did you see anything new?