If you’re feeling the tug to slow down, step outside, and reconnect with the world around you, nature journaling might be exactly what you need. But where do you begin? The easiest entry point is one that feels more like play than practice: go on a nature scavenger hunt or take a simple walk outdoors. Whether you're on your own or with kids, this gentle activity opens the door to curiosity, observation, and connection—the very heart of nature journaling. And when I say "nature walk," I simply mean stepping outside. Whether you're facing desert heat or a winter blast, you can observe the world around you and begin with any notebook or journal.

This post provides a starting point with some prompts, and it gives some resources and materials for stepping into the outdoors.

Our daughter’s favorite part of a trip to Lowe’s is walking through the garden section to see the flowers and collecting a stack of “rainbows”—color paint sample cards. After one of these trips, I remembered that I had a writing prompt kit called Paint Chip Poetry. This little box includes a wide variety of colors, each paired with a word or phrase, along with prompts to spark ideas. There’s something magical about color—how a single shade can evoke a memory, tell a story, or capture the essence of a season. When we combine that sensory experience with the power of words, we open up an entirely new pathway to creativity.

One of my favorite tools for inspiring outdoor journaling is using paint chips taped into a notebook. Paint chip poetry and color-based activities offer an accessible, playful, and deeply reflective way to connect with nature, especially when paired with time spent outside. Whether you’re journaling in your backyard, at a park, or on a classroom nature walk, these activities add a vibrant lens to the experience.

This post outlines five color-inspired journaling activities to try with your students or in your own nature notebook. It also includes recommended picture books that serve as wonderful resources for kids of all ages, from upper elementary to high school.

In all classrooms that thrive, students are not only readers and writers—they are thinkers. Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, in their foundational text Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Engagement, Understanding, and Building Knowledge, Grades K-8, remind us that comprehension is more than just decoding words; it’s about making meaning. The six key strategies they outline—monitoring comprehension, activating and building background knowledge, asking questions, visualizing and inferring, determining importance, and summarizing—are not only tools for deep reading, but also cornerstones of effective writing.

Strategic readers make intentional decisions as they interact with texts. The same is true for strategic writers. When students are invited to use writing as a thinking tool, especially through writing-to-learn strategies like outdoor journaling, they begin to connect ideas, process emotions, and synthesize information in authentic and meaningful ways. Outdoor journaling, in particular, provides a rich opportunity to activate background knowledge, ask curious questions, and synthesize observations—all while immersing students in the world around them.

In this post, we’ll explore how each of these six comprehension strategies can be found in journaling activities. Outdoor journaling can foster not just literacy growth, but confident, curious communicators. Let’s take literacy goals out of the classroom and into the fresh air—where thinking and writing grow together. Below, you'll find a list of 42 different journaling activities that align with literacy goals. Included is the activity name, a brief description, suggested resources, and example classroom applications.

In Wonder Walkers by Micha Archer, two curious children explore the natural world by asking poetic questions like, “Are trees the sky’s legs?” and “Is dirt the world’s skin?” This mentor text serves as a powerful model for both students and teachers—it invites readers to slow down, observe, and wonder. The book can inspire an activity that not only takes students outdoors, but also encourages them to reflect on the different kinds of questions they are asking each day. The very place where we are standing can become a tool for learning if we’re willing to pause and look closely through a lens of inquiry.

This post offers a walkthrough of a lesson you can bring outside—as a StoryWalk or as an introduction to nature journaling. It’s also a great cross-curricular activity that can launch an inquiry or research unit, blending observation, curiosity, and writing in a meaningful way.