Making Your Own Nature Journal

Creating your nature journal will get you exactly what you want. You can also be as creative as you want with it. Binding the nature journal together can be done before or after you use the pages. There are three main parts to making a nature journal and binding the journal together is the last part. The first two parts are creating a cover and picking what type of pages you want for the middle.

Cover

I recommend making the front and back covers out of cardstock paper or something harder. This will make it easier to write in by giving you a harder surface than just plain paper.

The cover can be a plain white piece of cardstock with nothing on it, but that isn’t fun. You don’t have to be finished with the cover before you start using your journal. Maybe you want to draw something you see on a nature hike onto the cover. Draw a picture of yourself or put a photograph of yourself on the cover and surround your portrait with your favorite nature items. Maybe each time you go to use your journal you draw a small picture of something you see out in nature. The cover could be a continuous work of art.

Art might not be your thing if you only want a title on your cover page. I would also write your name on the cover, especially if you are doing this as a group activity.

Internal Pages

Internal pages are the most important part of your nature journal. The inside of your journal can be just one type of page like blank or lined. Journals might have a variety of different papers in them. For example, you could have a thicker blank paper on every third page for painting with watercolors. Then the other pages could be all lined or have special prompts.

The following are some links to free printable pages I created. These basic pages can help you start producing your unique nature journal.

Calendar might be a good thing to put in the journal, so you can plan where you want to go and do your nature journaling.
Half-lined paper for drawing and writing. Half -lined journal page Half-lined with some prompts journal page
A whole page of lined paper. Lined only journal page
There are two different versions of your senses page. Senses with lines journal page Senses without lines journal page
A lined page with minimal prompts on it. Prompt journal page

Bindings

Staples are one of the easiest ways to hold your journal together. Most people have access to a stapler, so it’s more convenient. Staples are a more permanent way of binding your journal.
Clip rings can be used to hold the journal together. You can use one in a corner or multiple clip rings on one side. Before you put the clip rings into the paper pages you will want to hole-punch the paper. If using clip rings, you can put all the pages in right away, or you can put them in after you finish each page.
Use a folder with brads inside to hold the papers into the folder. If you have a folder with pockets, then you can collect things on a hike like leaves and put them into the folder pockets.
Use a three-ring binder to hold all your papers together in your nature journal. This could also provide a hard surface to write on when doing your journal.
A prong fastener is another way of holding all the pages of your journal together.
A stick and rubber band together make a great unique binding. To use these items to hold your journal pages together, use a hole puncher and make two holes in the side or top of the cover and journal pages. Then slide a long thick rubber band through one of the holes. Put one end of the stick through the rubber band. Next, put the other end of the rubber band through the other hole and over the other end of the stick. If the rubber band isn’t long enough it will be hard to get it through the hole on the other end.