Nature Journal for Kids Who Love to Explore
A beautifully illustrated nature activity book for kids
Help a child step outside, slow down, and discover just how much there is to notice in the natural world.
The Nature Journal by Canadian artist and author Sarah Jane Conklin is an interactive nature activity book for kids ages 6–10, filled with outdoor activities, observation prompts, drawing opportunities, and space to record their discoveries.
Children can explore birds, bugs, trees, flowers, weather, colours, sounds, textures, and more—all while developing their natural curiosity about the world around them.
And they don't need to travel far to begin.
Sometimes the best nature adventures start right in your own backyard.
Launching mid-September 2026.
An Outdoor Activity Book That Gets Kids Looking Closer
Children are naturally curious.
Sometimes, they just need an invitation to stop and look.
What colour is that tiny flower growing beside the path?
What sound is the bird in the backyard making?
How does the bark of one tree feel compared with another?
What changes outside when rain is coming?
Sarah Jane's Nature Journal turns these everyday observations into opportunities to explore, draw, write, wonder, and learn.
Created for children approximately 6–10 years old, the journal offers approachable activities that families can enjoy in their own backyard or take along on walks, camping trips, cottage weekends, vacations, and outdoor adventures.
It isn't about knowing all the answers.
It's about learning to notice.
What's Inside the Nature Journal?
Every section encourages children to interact with nature in a slightly different way.
Young explorers will be invited to:
- Look for birds and notice their colours, sounds, movements, and behaviours.
- Discover bugs and small creatures hiding in gardens, under leaves, and along pathways.
- Explore trees by looking at bark, leaves, shapes, textures, and seasonal changes.
- Notice flowers and observe their colours, shapes, sizes, and visitors.
- Watch the weather and record changes in clouds, wind, rain, sunshine, and temperature.
- Search for colours in nature and discover just how colourful the outdoors can be.
- Use their senses to notice things they can see, hear, smell, and touch.
- Draw and record discoveries in their own way.
There is no right or wrong way to complete a nature journal.
Children can write a sentence, make a list, sketch something they found, record a question, or simply spend a few minutes observing.
Their curiosity leads the way.
Made for Real-Life Nature Adventures
You don't need to plan an elaborate outdoor excursion.
Take the journal:
Into the backyard.
See what lives, grows, flies, crawls, and changes just beyond the back door.
On a neighbourhood walk.
Turn an ordinary walk into a nature scavenger hunt.
To the park.
Find a favourite tree, watch birds, examine flowers, or lie back and study the clouds.
Camping or to the cottage.
Record discoveries from a weekend spent outdoors.
On family trips.
Use the journal to remember the plants, animals, weather, and landscapes encountered somewhere new.
The same journal can be used again and again as children begin noticing things they once walked right past.
Helping Children Notice Nature
In a world filled with screens, schedules, and constant stimulation, spending time noticing nature can be wonderfully simple.
Sarah Jane's Nature Journal isn't designed to keep children busy with another list of tasks.
It's an invitation to become curious.
To look under a leaf.
Listen for a bird.
Watch the clouds.
Study the shape of a flower.
Feel the texture of tree bark.
And discover that an ordinary backyard is filled with extraordinary things when we take the time to notice them.
Because kindness begins in your own backyard—and so does curiosity.
An Outdoor Activity Book That Gets Kids Looking Closer
Children are naturally curious.
Sometimes, they just need an invitation to stop and look.
What colour is that tiny flower growing beside the path?
What sound is the bird in the backyard making?
How does the bark of one tree feel compared with another?
What changes outside when rain is coming?
Sarah Jane's Nature Journal turns these everyday observations into opportunities to explore, draw, write, wonder, and learn.
Created for children approximately 6–10 years old, the journal offers approachable activities that families can enjoy in their own backyard or take along on walks, camping trips, cottage weekends, vacations, and outdoor adventures.
It isn't about knowing all the answers.
It's about learning to notice.
A Thoughtful Gift for Nature-Loving Kids
Sarah Jane's Nature Journal makes a meaningful gift for children who love animals, birds, bugs, drawing, exploring, gardening, camping, hiking, or simply being outside.
Consider it for:
- birthdays
- Christmas and holiday gifts
- back-to-school surprises
- cottage and camping trips
- grandchildren
- homeschool activities
- family vacations
- young birdwatchers
- budding artists and nature lovers
Unlike a toy that's quickly forgotten, a nature journal becomes a record of what a child discovered.
Created and Illustrated by Canadian Artist Sarah Jane Conklin
Sarah Jane Conklin has long found inspiration in the birds, landscapes, and natural surroundings of Atlantic Canada.
Her artwork invites viewers to look more closely at the birds, creatures and landscapes we sometimes take for granted.
The Nature Journal brings that same philosophy to young explorers.
Through original artwork and thoughtfully designed activities, Sarah Jane encourages children to discover that nature doesn't only exist in faraway forests or national parks.
It's outside the window.
It's along the sidewalk.
It's in the neighbourhood.
And sometimes, it's right in your own backyard.
Pair it with Nesting Grounds
For children fascinated by birds, continue exploring with Sarah Jane Conklin's beautifully illustrated book, Nesting Grounds.
Featuring original oil paintings of ten familiar birds and their nests, Nesting Grounds introduces young readers to the fascinating places birds choose to raise their families.
Together, Nesting Grounds and the Nature Journal encourage children to look more closely at the birds and wildlife living around them.