Nature Journaling

Prompt 1

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Nature Surprises!

 

Nature can amaze us in big and small ways every hour of every day.  This poem from the Japanese poet, Matsuo captures one of the ways a beautiful but small natural moment or nature surprise can inspire you.

 

Sitting at my desk on a cold, dark,

December afternoon, I look out the window 

And see a squirrel starting back at me.

 

I just smile.  I think he smiles back,

Shakes his tail, and leaps off the roof.

 

What fun!  I feel refreshed.

 

What can be the subject of a natural surprise you ask?

 

• Birds

• A beautiful or unusual sky

• A flower

• An insect

• Tree shape or color

• An interesting rock

• Or any sound from nature

• Really anything that is part of nature

 

In your nature journal you can record nature surprises in many different ways like:

 

• Record a daily nature surprise with the date, time and location for a week, a month a year, whatever inspires you.

• Draw a picture or make a collage of a nature surprise.

• Write a poem or a story about your natural surprise.