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Nature journal with 6-year-old
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I love the idea of nature journaling, and am wondering at what age you would typically start that? Having not yet seen anything regarding age and the nature journals, I’m assuming that you begin quite young….or do you? DS has just turned 6. Though his drawing has improved this last year, he still has a long way to go with fine motor development. So do you really have them drawing in their nature journals when they’re still learning to make their letters?
I think the “habit” of it starts very young, for my kids. My youngest now is 4yo, and he has a nature journal. Granted, his sketches are not as recognizable to others as his older sibs are, but even though he is not a fan of writing and such, he loves having one. (Cute story: found him asleep the other night with his nature notebook clutched to his chest after his was lost for 2 weeks because he neglected to put it away in it’s “home” once.) He and I talk about what he wants to draw, what colors does he see, that kind of thing — before he draws. And I do help with writing the name of it or the date or whatever, with his input.
I think as long as your expectations are realistic for the age and ability, and it is a pleasure to them, they are never too young.
I think you can start at 6. This great post from Higher Up and Further In may help:
http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2012/07/first-stage-of-nature-journaling.html
Nebby
Thank-you. Reading that Higher Up and Further In article reminded me that I have questions about using watercolors too. I have very limited experience and training in that medium. I’m assuming you use watercolor paper and just paste it into the nature journal? How does one do the dry brush technique she refers to? Aren’t watercolor pencils that she refers to meant to be gone over with water? Or is that not necessarily so?
I wanted to chime in and say that my four year old has a nature journal and my just turned two year old often “sketches” with us too! It’s something that my daughter LOVES, so why not? I make sure that I label everything though, so that in years when I look back on it I’ll be able to tell what they all are supposed to be of, lol! It’s really so sweet though to see her drawings and I can definitely see marked improvement in her observation skills! She used to choose whatever colours she wanted, without any regard to whatever it was she was trying to draw and just do whatever shapes she felt like (which I also think is just fine for the age), but now, she really will look at what she is drawing and notice new details, and it’s been really exciting to watch her as she makes these new discoveries. I think that might be my favourite thing about homeschooling, is just watching their minds open, you know? And nature journals are a great example of that.
Take care,
Rachel
My 3yo has her own journal. Granted they are mostly scibbles, but she loves being one of the big kids! My 6yo has drawn a few pictures in hers, but she doesn’t usually write in it. They also collect leaves to put in them.
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