Keeping the Home by Lori Seaborg

Friday, June 23, 2006

Creating a Nature Journal or an Art Journal

Nature journaling is the art of drawing and painting what you see in nature. I'm going to write more about it soon, but wanted to give you a few ideas on creating a nature journal or, if you don't nature journal (you may be like us, and have to basically stay indoors most of the summer!), you can use these ideas to create a book full of your child's artwork.

At Big Lots, of all places, I found Drawing Pads (9"x12" - 50 sheets - 70 lb. paper) and Watercolor Pads (9"x12" - 12 sheets - 150 lb. coldpress watercolor paper) for I think $1.99. You can also buy similar pads of paper at Hobby Lobby or Michaels.

On nature hikes, our children carry a drawing pad each. It has a nice thick cardboard backing, so they are able to use it "out in the field."

To give them the freedom to try and occasionally fail, I told the children that they don't need to worry about messing up in this book. We are going to take out the pages that are really good, and create a book out of the drawing pages and the watercolor pages.

IDEA #1: A Handmade Book:

To create a book like we often make, go to: http://www.dickblick.com/lessonplans/2006twigbooks/Default.asp (in the directions, the paper is folded. You can create your book without folding the pages by ommitting just that part of the directions.

If your drawing or painting is not as big as the book's pages, simply cut your drawing or painting out to size and glue it (or use one of the adhesive options from scrapbooking) onto a new piece of paper or cardstock. Bind that page into the book.

IDEA #2: A Quicker Way:

Buy a scrapbook with page covers (or purchase the covers separately). Cut the children's drawings/paintings out of the drawing/painting pad and paste the drawing (or use any choice of scrapbooking adhesive) onto the paper in the scrapbook. Cover the painting with a plastic page cover (if desired).

Lori Seaborg

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KeepingtheHome