Nature Journal Prompts: Themes

Once you chose your place or places, these nature journal prompts on themes can be the topic of one notebook or many. 

One theme can be followed in many different places or just one special place and over many years. 

You can create personalized field guides or do in-depth research on one topic. And learn to observe and record the life history of plants and animals.

Focus on...

• Your backyard habitat - the animals that visit, bloom time of plants, the sky over head

• Weather - daily weather signs and changes, severe weather signs and changes

• Garden journal - record the plants and plant family studies, plantings, harvest, pests, birds, butterflies, seasonal changes, weeds, bloom dates and goings on in your garden.

• Native plants - record all the plants native to your area. Identify invasive species and eliminate them from your garden.

• Edible and medicinal plants - learn to identify the useful plants of your chosen place

• Insects and other crawlers - do in-depth studies of butterflies, moths, bugs, etc.

• Endangered species - the local endangered plants and animals

• Seasons -the cycle of happenings in spring, summer, autumn or winter

• Mushroom and other fungi - What are the most common species? Which ones are edible? What are their growing conditions? Where do they grow and why.

• Backyard birds - their numbers, favorite foods, favorite feed, nesting activity, water needs, migration patterns

• The most common birds of your chosen area. Winter residents, summer migrants and all-year around residents.

• Trees - the common ones for your area. Who lives on or in them? When do they bloom? How are they pollinated? When and to what color do their leaves change? Which trees bloom or drop their leaves first?

• Travel - While traveling, keep your eyes open for nature happenings in new places. Research an area before arriving and find common characteristics between home and the new place.

• Rocks and minerals - What are your local soils made of? What color are the minerals,? Are there mines nearby? What is the environmental impact of mining in your area?

• Sky - Try charting the movement of the sun, moon and stars. Where does the sun rise on the solstices? Is the same place in winter and summer? On the equinoxes? Are the same stars over your house everyday of the year? Name the most common constellations. Which way is north

• Mountains - What mountain range are they apart of? What are they made of? How do scientist think they are formed? What lives and grows on the mountains?

• Indigenous/Native American Lifeways-What Indigenous/Native Americans live or lived in your area? What are their histories and cultures? How is the way they live/lived on the land different from later residents.? What plants do they use?

• Do newcomers live in your land? What is the history of the immigrants and the land?

• In our homes - Okay, we have seen bugs and insects crawling around our houses like they own the place. Who are they and what are they doing? Do they help or hinder us? What is the mold growing on the basement wall? 

• Phenology - observe the relationship between climate and the life cycles of plants and animals.  

• One Square Foot (Meter) - observe one square foot of ground. Mark off with string  the area you choose to study. Observe the plants and animals that live there. You can do onespot or several spots in your chosen place.

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