nature journal

When my older children were a lot younger, I purchased (and read!) a book that really struck a chord within. Wild Days by Karen Skidmore Rackliffe is a simply delightful book about how to incorporate Nature Study into your child's days. Sadly, my copy has been packed away for 4 years but I still remember how excited I was that she made it sound so easy and do-able! If you are home educating (and even if you're not) I highly recommend that you try and get hold of a copy - I'm sure you'll be inspired too! 

Of course, we each started a nature journal all those years ago and I love to look back on the early paintings and drawings that the children painstakingly sketched in the pages. I do wish though that I had been a bit more diligent about getting out into the natural world and filling their books more - although my Golden Girl continues to add to hers, which is lovely to see! Some of our children were very keen to sit still and draw, while others were mostly not so amendable but we persevered regardless ;o)   

Today I remembered how much we'd enjoyed it, so we pulled out the journals and paints and headed out to the garden. Only Fairy Girl and I sat amongst the flowers and contemplated - the others were all busy. I settled on a nice tall echinacea bloom and the small girl painted a beautiful, bright pink Cosmos flower, as well as some beans that caught her eye! We always date our page and write a bit about the day - the weather, who we were with, how we felt, botanical name and so on - although I hadn't done it when I took the photo.

Life has been so busy these last few years (yes, more so than when I had seven little ones!) that I'd forgotten to stop and record the natural world that surrounds us. Todays little foray back into the pages of our nature journals has inspired me to remember to take note more often!