George Lucas Educational Foundation

The Powerful Benefits of Nature Journaling

Bringing students outdoors to draw and take note of natural surroundings creates space for curiosity—while encouraging deeper comprehension.

May 30, 2025

Your content has been saved!

Go to My Saved Content.

Regularly making space for students to interact with their natural surroundings through nature journaling—sketching, annotating, and slowing down to observe the seemingly ordinary bits of nature close by—can have benefits for a student’s social and emotional well-being as well as their scientific comprehension.

Today, young students most commonly learn about the parts and processes of the natural world by rote, memorizing concepts from a textbook, which does little to inspire wonder and curiosity. But encouraging students to go outdoors and take notice of the tiniest flowers in the grass and other bits of nature that usually go overlooked, on the other hand, soothes stress and sparks interest while still engaging them in rigorous, purposeful academic work.

Sketching and writing reflections about natural phenomena also builds crucial cognitive and processing skills like close observation, technical illustration, attention to detail, critical thinking, and the ability to organize and categorize information. When drawing and writing in a journal, students process information in multiple ways, leading to deeper comprehension and more durable memories.

To learn more about the research cited in this video, check out the resources below.

To dig deeper into the benefits of nature journaling, read Youki Terada’s article for Edutopia, “Why Kids Should Nature Journal at All Grade Levels.”

Ask Edutopia AIBETA

Make a list of other activities that help students connect to nature.
What are some additional benefits to getting young people learning outdoors?
Responses are generated by artificial intelligence. AI can make mistakes.

Share This Story

  • bluesky icon
  • email icon

Filed Under

  • Environmental Education
  • Science

Follow Edutopia

  • facebook icon
  • bluesky icon
  • pinterest icon
  • instagram icon
  • youtube icon
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
George Lucas Educational Foundation
Edutopia is an initiative of the George Lucas Educational Foundation.
Edutopia®, the EDU Logo™ and Lucas Education Research Logo® are trademarks or registered trademarks of the George Lucas Educational Foundation in the U.S. and other countries.