Think of a tree you walk past every day. Now try to say what shape its leaves are, whether the bark is smooth or rough, or what color it turns in fall. Most people can’t, even about a tree they’ve passed for years. Looking isn’t the same as noticing.
Nature journaling prompts give your attention somewhere to go, so instead of staring at a blank page in the park, you’re counting the petals on a weed or following a squirrel’s route along the fence. You don’t need to draw well, know any species names, or live near the wilderness. A backyard, a window, or a street tree is enough.
12 Nature Journaling Prompts to Start With
These work almost anywhere, in any season. Each one has a note on why it’s worth trying and a follow-up for days when you want to stay out a little longer.
1. What do you notice, what do you wonder, and what does it remind you of?
Why this helps: These three phrases are the backbone of nature journaling. Noticing keeps you describing what’s actually there, wondering turns it into questions, and “it reminds me of” ties it to something you already know, which helps you remember it.
Go one step deeper: Pick one of your “I wonder” questions and watch for five more minutes to see if you can answer it just by looking.
2. Choose one thing and record it in words, a picture, and a number.
Why this helps: Each one catches something the others miss. A sketch shows shape, words hold color, smell, and behavior, and a number, like how many petals or how long it stayed, makes you look more closely than you planned to.
Go one step deeper: Add a second number that you have to count or measure, not estimate.
3. Sit still for five minutes. What do you hear, near and far?
Why this helps: Sound tells you about things you can’t see, like a bird hidden in a hedge or water behind the trees. Sitting still also gives animals that hid when you arrived time to come back out.
Go one step deeper: Draw a sound map. Put yourself in the middle of the page and mark each sound in the direction it came from.
4. Describe a plant without naming it.
Why this helps: Once we know what something is called, we stop looking at it. Describing the color, the texture, the shape of the leaf edges, and how the leaves attach makes you see the plant instead of the label.
Go one step deeper: Later, try to identify it from your notes alone. Which detail helped most?
5. Find the smallest living thing you can see and draw it bigger than life.
Why this helps: Small things are easy to overlook, and drawing them large forces you to fill in details like legs, veins, and hairs. A patch of ground the size of your hand holds more than most people expect.
Go one step deeper: Drop a loop of string on the ground and list everything inside the circle.
6. What is the sky doing right now?
Why this helps: The sky is different every time you look, and recording clouds, wind, and light gives each entry a sense of the day. Over weeks, these notes become a weather record of your own place.
Go one step deeper: Guess what the weather will do in the next hour, then check back and see if you were right.
7. Watch one animal for as long as it stays. What is it doing, and why might it be doing it?
Why this helps: Behavior is where nature gets interesting. Keeping what you see (“it’s pecking at the ground”) separate from what you guess (“it’s looking for food”) is one of the most useful habits a nature journal builds.
Go one step deeper: Write down how long you watched and what made it leave.
8. Pick a spot you can visit every week. What’s here today that wasn’t here last time?
Why this helps: Going back to one place teaches you more than visiting many. You start to notice new buds, fresh holes in leaves, and which birds turn up at what time.
Go one step deeper: Give the spot a name and draw a simple map of it on its own page.
9. Find two of the same thing, like two leaves from one tree, and draw them side by side.
Why this helps: Side by side, the differences jump out: a torn edge, an extra lobe, a bump, or a spot. It’s one of the quickest ways to sharpen your eye.
Go one step deeper: What might explain the differences you found?
10. What’s the first sign of the season changing that you can find today?
Why this helps: Seasons change in small steps. Catching the first one, like a single yellow leaf or the first bud, means you’re watching it happen instead of noticing once it’s obvious.
Go one step deeper: Write the date so you can compare it with the same sign next year.
11. Ask 10 questions about one thing in front of you.
Why this helps: Questions push your observation further than answers do. The first few are easy, and by the eighth one you’re looking at details you’d never have noticed.
Go one step deeper: Circle one question you could answer by watching and one you’d need to look up.
12. What did you see today that surprised you?
Why this helps: A surprise marks the edge of what you expected, which is usually where you learn something. It’s also an easy entry when you only have a minute on the way home.
Go one step deeper: What did you expect to see instead?
Choose the closest feeling and we will pick a prompt for it.
Private: your choices stay on this device.What would help most?
How to Start a Nature Journal
You need less than you think. A cheap notebook and a pencil are enough, and your first pages don’t have to look like anything.
- Bring a small notebook and a pencil. A pocket sketchbook or any notebook with plain or lightly lined paper works. A pencil keeps working in the rain, when ink can smudge. Colored pencils or a small watercolor set are nice extras, not requirements.
- Start every page with the date, place, time, and weather. It takes 30 seconds and turns your notes into a record you can compare over months.
- Use words, pictures, and numbers. You don’t need all three every time, but mixing them catches more. If you dislike drawing, write. If you dislike writing, sketch and add labels.
- Describe before you name. Write “smooth, brown, egg-shaped, with a little cap” before you write “acorn.” Naming too early is how people stop looking.
- Let questions stay unanswered. Write “I wonder…” and keep going. Some questions you’ll answer by watching, some you’ll look up later, and some will stay open.
- Keep sessions short. Ten or fifteen minutes is a full session. A timer can help you settle in instead of checking the time.
- Leave nature where you found it. Draw and describe instead of picking. If you lift a rock or log to look underneath, set it back the way it was. Keep your distance from nests, stinging insects, and wild animals, and never taste anything you find.
- Don’t aim for pretty pages. Crossed-out words and wobbly sketches are normal in a nature journal. It’s a record of what you saw, not a gallery.
Not sure if you lean toward writing, sketching, or both? Our guide to types of journaling covers sketch journals, scrapbooks, and more.
More Nature Journaling Prompts for Wherever You Are
Use the table to jump to prompts for where you are right now. One prompt is enough for a session, and you can skip anything that doesn’t fit your place or season.
| Where you are | Go to |
|---|---|
| At a window or in your backyard | Prompts 13-20 |
| Out on a walk | Prompts 21-28 |
| At a spot you visit often | Prompts 29-36 |
| Looking up at the sky | Prompts 37-44 |
| Near trees and plants | Prompts 45-53 |
| Watching birds or other animals | Prompts 54-62 |
| Crouched down close to the ground | Prompts 63-70 |
| By a pond, stream, or shore | Prompts 71-77 |
| Noticing the season change | Prompts 78-85 |
| Nervous about drawing | Prompts 86-92 |
| In the mood to reflect | Prompts 93-99 |
| Outside with kids | Prompts 100-107 |
From Your Window or Backyard
You don’t need a trail or a park. A window, a balcony, or a small yard has weather, light, birds, and plants, and it’s the easiest place to journal often.
- Sketch the view from your window and label everything living in it.
- What’s the first living thing you see when you step outside today?
- Which plant in your yard or on your street did nobody plant on purpose? Describe it closely.
- What visits your yard, balcony, or windowsill over one day? Keep a list with the times.
- Where does rainwater go when it runs off your roof or path?
- Find something growing in a crack in the pavement. How do you think it got there?
- Watch from your window at dusk for 10 minutes. What changes as the light fades?
- What lives in your home that isn’t a pet or a houseplant? Check corners, windowsills, and the space behind the curtains.
On a Walk
Walking adds movement and change to your page. The trick is stopping often, so a walk you journal is always slower than one you don’t.
- Draw a map of your route and mark each place you stopped and why.
- Pick one color and record every natural thing you find in that shade.
- Stop every 100 steps and write down one thing you see, hear, or smell.
- What signs of animals do you spot, like footprints, chewed leaves, feathers, or holes in the ground?
- Find the oldest-looking living thing on your route. What makes it look old?
- Where does the path change, from sun to shade, dry to damp, or open to sheltered? What changes with it?
- What have people left behind along this route, and how is nature dealing with it?
- What’s one thing you’ve walked past many times and never stopped to look at?
At Your Sit Spot
A sit spot is one place you return to again and again, even if it’s just a bench or a corner of the yard. Over weeks, it starts to feel familiar in a way a single visit never allows.
- Sit for 10 minutes without writing anything. Then write down everything you remember.
- Which animals left when you arrived, and how long did they take to come back?
- Measure something you can measure again next month, like the height of a plant or the number of open flowers.
- Draw the same view you drew last time. What changed?
- Come at a different time of day than usual. What’s different?
- Choose one plant here to follow all year and draw it today.
- Turn around. What part of this spot have you been ignoring?
- If someone else sat here every day, what do you think they’d notice that you haven’t?
Sky, Weather, and Light
The sky is the one part of nature you can watch from anywhere, even a city apartment. Writing it down builds a record of your own corner of the world.
- Sketch today’s clouds. Are they puffy, flat, wispy, or patchy?
- Which way is the wind blowing, and how can you tell without feeling it?
- Write down the temperature at the same time each day for a week. What do you notice?
- Describe the light right now. Is it sharp, soft, warm, or cool, and what does it do to the colors around you?
- Watch a storm roll in or clear out, and record each change in order.
- Where does the sun set from where you stand? Mark it against a tree, roof, or hill, and check again in a month.
- What does the air smell like just before or after rain?
- Draw the moon tonight and write the date. What shape do you think it will be next week?
Trees and Plants
Plants hold still, making them the best subjects for close looking and drawing. Pick one and stay with it.
- Choose a tree near you. Sketch its overall shape from far away, then a single leaf up close.
- Make a bark rubbing with paper and a crayon, then describe the texture in words.
- How are the leaves arranged on the stem: across from each other, alternating, or in a circle?
- Count the petals on three flowers of the same kind. Are the numbers the same?
- Find a seed, pod, or cone. How do you think it travels away from the plant it grew on?
- Which leaves have holes, spots, or bumps? What might have caused them?
- Follow one plant from bud to flower to seed over several weeks.
- Which side of the tree has more moss, lichen, or shade? Why might that be?
- What’s growing at the base of this tree, and what’s growing on it?
Birds and Other Animals
Animals move, so these prompts lean on quick notes and fast sketches. Watch first, write fast, and don’t worry if they leave before you finish.
- Watch a bird eat. What does it eat, how does it hold the food, and does it eat alone or with others?
- How does this bird move on the ground: does it hop, walk, or run? How does it fly?
- Listen for a bird call and write it out in sounds or words that help you remember it.
- Draw quick outlines of an animal in three different positions, spending only a few seconds on each.
- What is this animal paying attention to? Follow where it looks.
- Count the birds you see in 10 minutes. Which kind showed up most?
- How does this animal react to you, to other animals, or to a passing car?
- Where do you think this animal sleeps, and what makes you think so?
- What does a squirrel, pigeon, or other everyday animal near you do that you’ve never really watched?
Up Close: Insects, Fungi, and Small Things
Crouch down, and the world gets busy. A magnifying glass helps, but your eyes held close work too. Be careful around insects that bite or sting, and never touch or taste wild mushrooms.
- Lift a rock or log, record what’s underneath, then set it back gently.
- Follow an ant for as long as you can. Where does it go?
- Find a mushroom or patch of fungus and draw it from the side and from above.
- Watch a flower for 10 minutes. Which insects visit, and what do they do there?
- How many legs, wings, and body sections does this insect have?
- Find a spider web. Draw its pattern and note where it’s attached.
- Get down at ground level and draw what a beetle would see. Then stand up and draw the same spot as a bird would see it.
- Look as closely as you can at moss or lichen. What do you see up close that you couldn’t see standing?
By Water
Ponds, streams, puddles, and shorelines can change by the hour. Stay on safe ground, and keep a close eye on kids near the edge.
- Where is this water coming from, and where is it going?
- What lives at the edge, where water meets land?
- Drop a leaf into a stream and follow it. Where does it slow down, stop, or speed up?
- Look at a puddle the day after rain and again two days later. What changed?
- What can you see on the surface, just under it, and at the bottom?
- At the shore, what did the last tide or wave leave behind?
- Describe the sound of this water in three different ways.
Through the Seasons
Watching one place change over the course of a year is one of the best parts of keeping a nature journal. These prompts work in any month. For more seasonal ideas, see our spring, summer, fall, and winter journal prompts.
- What’s blooming this week? List it all with the date.
- When did you first hear a particular bird this year? Write the date to compare next year.
- Pick one tree and draw it once a month for a year, all on the same page or spread.
- What signs can you find of animals getting ready for the next season?
- What fruit, nut, or seed is ripe near you right now, and who’s eating it?
- How does your street or sit spot look this season compared with the opposite season?
- Make a page of this season’s colors, with a swatch or sketch of each and where you found it.
- Which season is hardest to journal outside in, and what could you watch from indoors instead?
Drawing Ideas for People Who Don’t Draw
Drawing in a nature journal is about looking, not about making art. These exercises are short and a little silly, and they work whether or not you think you can draw.
- Draw a leaf without looking at the paper. Keep your eyes on the leaf the whole time.
- Draw the same plant three times: the size of a coin, the size of a playing card, and filling the whole page.
- Draw only the outline of something, exactly as you see it, not how you think it should look.
- Circle one small part of your drawing and fill it with every detail you can find in that part of the real thing.
- Give yourself 30 seconds per sketch and draw the same thing five times.
- Draw the shapes of the shadows instead of the objects.
- Add arrows and labels to your sketch for anything the drawing can’t show, like color, smell, texture, or movement.
Nature and You
Nature journaling is mostly about what’s out there, but it’s fine to turn the page inward now and then. These prompts connect what you observe to your own life.
- What place in nature do you know best, and how did you get to know it?
- What’s your favorite memory of playing outside as a child? What can you still remember seeing, hearing, or smelling?
- How do you feel before you head outside to journal, and how do you feel after?
- What natural thing near you would you be sad to lose, and what could you do to look after it?
- If you could be any part of the landscape in front of you, what would you choose and why?
- What has nature journaling taught you to notice that you used to miss?
- Write a letter to a tree, river, or place you care about.
Nature Journaling Prompts for Kids
Kids are natural observers, and they often spot what adults walk right past. Younger children can draw their answers or tell you what to write. For indoor prompts, see our journal prompts for kids.
- Find something in nature for every color of the rainbow.
- Look for letters hiding in nature, like a twig shaped like a Y. Can you find the letters in your name?
- Draw a bug and give it a name. What do you think it did today?
- Choose a secret plant and describe it. Can someone else find the same plant from your description?
- What was the biggest thing and the smallest thing you saw outside today?
- Make a leaf rubbing and guess which tree it came from.
- If you were an animal living here, where would you make your home?
- Find three things that have already fallen to the ground, like leaves, seeds, or pebbles, and draw them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you put in a nature journal?
Start each page with the date, place, time, and weather. Then record what you observe in words, sketches, and numbers, along with your questions and anything it reminds you of. You don’t need to collect specimens. A description and a quick sketch keep the memory without taking anything from the place.
What is the best journal for nature journaling?
A small sketchbook with thick, plain paper works well because it handles pencil, pen, and light watercolor. A hard cover makes it easier to write without a table. That said, any notebook you’ll actually carry is the right one, so start with what you have.
Do I need to be good at drawing to keep a nature journal?
No. Sketches in a nature journal are notes, not art, and words and numbers count just as much. If drawing makes you nervous, try the short exercises in prompts 86-92. Most people find their sketches improve quickly once they stop expecting them to look good.
Can I keep a nature journal if I live in a city?
Yes. Street trees, weeds in the pavement, pigeons, spiders, clouds, and the light at sunset are all nature. A window or balcony works too. Prompts 13-20 and 37-44 are a good place to start.
How often should I write in my nature journal?
As often as you can keep up without it feeling like a chore. One short session a week at the same spot teaches you a lot over a year. Some people prefer a few lines every day. Either way, a 10-minute entry counts.