Intro to Nature Journaling with Kids

Nature journaling. Photo by Frog Mom

Impressionists had it all figured out. Dressed in casual country chic (straw hat de rigueur even if it snowed), they walked to a nice spot in the woods, strived hard to look moody and set up their easel. Then they drunk bucket-loads of absinthe, got their palette out and painted a museum piece in large brush strokes. That was nature journaling at its finest with a good case of delirium tremens to boot. Except with children, carrying easels and drinking absinthe might not be your best ticket to a fun day out.

Nature Journaling by Scott
Vanderlip

The G-rated version of a Manet landscape starts with a sketchbook, a travel watercolor set and pencils. Oh, and the great outdoors - it wouldn't be called nature journaling otherwise. Here's the recipe.

Backstory

I was introduced to nature journaling by my friend Scott Vanderlip who wrote a short guide to nature journaling. In 8 pages, he answers questions a newbie can have on the topic, from what it is to how to do it, why, getting started, sample journal pages and references. 

In the hills above Pinecrest on a late December day, Scott and his teenage daughter took us out for a morning of exploration with nature journaling in mind. None of us had ever done it and my girls were shy about it. My husband was even more so and I, well I'm not much of an artist. Turns out, that's a moot point.

Hiking above Pinecrest. Photo by Frog Mom

"There is no right or wrong way to nature journal," writes Scott, "you can use drawing, painting, text, maps, poetry, taped in picked flowers (even bugs), leaves, leaf rubbings, or whatever mediums and ways you can think up to record your observations. The only measure of success should be that you feel you have captured and recorded the observations you wished to capture in your journal, without worrying about creating a 'pretty picture.'"

Based on Scott's guide, here is a list of essentials.

Ingredients

• Fine tip 5mm mechanical pencil like the BIC Matic Grip - or a HB lead pencil for contours
• Travel size watercolor set from Winsor and Newton or a Koi Watercolors Pocketfield Sketch Box - the Koi set has a nifty device called the refillable water brush that stores water while on the road, a hit with my girls
• A watercolor sketchbook like the Strathmore Watercolor Paper or a bound journal (8 by 5") like this Moleskine Watercolour Notebook
• A white cotton sock cut in the middle to resemble a sleeve - to wipe off the brush between colors
• A small bottle of water - to refill the water brush
• Icing on the cake: Crayola Watercolor Pencils - for kids who like to mess around with their page

Methodology

Though it didn't really matter where we sat, we looked for rocks that we use as stools. Logs would have worked too but there were none. If we were going to stay there a while, might as well make ourselves comfortable. 

The kids started first, less inhibited than us adults. Initially I was standing there as an observer but when I saw my 6-year old and 8-year taken by the exercise, I felt foolish for not trying. I couldn't think of the worst thing that could result from nature journaling except for a wasted hour and time was in ample supply that morning so I dug in.

Blank page. The blank page was intimidating but when everyone bent their heads over their journals, the artist block went away and we all got into the groove. Pulling my own journal out of my backpack, I opted to capture the landscape in front of me. My girls did the same, focusing on the shape and color of the sugar pines around us.

Sugar pine cone. Photo by Frog Mom

If you've never seen the pinecone of a sugar pine, it's ginormous and I asked my 1st grader to hold one in her hands so you could get an idea of the size. Ain't that something?

They're all over the sierras so you're bound to see one at some point but when you do, resist the urge to play with the amber-color balls of sap hanging to the cone. The sap is extremely sticky - and fragrant - and it took me a full day to get it off my skin!

Changing colors. Photo by C.G.

Back to nature journaling. First off, you fill the container of your water brush and wear the cut-off sock as a glove on the non-painting hand. Squeeze the brush lightly so water wets it. Then dip the brush in the solid water color blocks and start painting. The kids were not patient enough to draw the contours with a pencil first but if you wanted finer details, you might want to do that first.

To change colors, my girls simply expressed water from the brush until it dripped enough for the previous color to fade away, rubbed it on the sock - aha! so that's what it was for - and dipped the brush in a different color. They didn't have any problem doing it.

Scott Vanderlip and Frog Mom. Photo by Scott's daughter

Since Scott had brought two different watercolor sets, we were able to experiment with both and between the Winsor and Newton and the Koi sets, the Koi clearly won our hearts. Better colors for outdoors experimenting, more choice (the Winsor and Newton didn't have any black and with so many rocks around us, that was an issue), cool water brush.

Blue flower out of the blue. Photo by Frog Mom

The trick, particularly for the younger set, was to learn how much water was enough and how much water was too much. That's why it's important you pick watercolor paper as opposed to construction or regular sketch paper. Watercolor paper is designed to absorb water moisture and you won't have paper mache right away.

The kids were done in 20 minutes, which was much longer than I expected. Usually at home when they're drawing, a piece of paper doesn't last more than 5 minutes unless they are in a deep drawing mood. A few tears were shed over mixed colors and page flooding but overall they were satisfied about the outcome.

Pine forest. Photo by Frog Mom

"Can I do another one?" asked my 3rd grader. Of course, I said, and she went on to draw a beautiful blue flower while her young sister took a stab at painting a pumpkin - go figure. Sitting in a pine forest in the dead winter, neither blue wildflowers nor bright orange pumpkins were to be found around us. Hmm. It made me wonder.

Is it possible that they painted the landscape around us to make us happy but that what they really wanted to paint was something completely different?

My nature journal. Photo by Frog Mom

Whatever it was, they completed 3 paintings each but the most detailed - and in my perspective the finest - was the first landscape of our surroundings. My girls can draw a plant on a blank page but they have a hard time situating it in a fictional landscape. It'll remain a stand-alone plant on a blank page.

Hence the plus of nature journaling. Your model is in front of you, as intricate or simple as you want to render it, and it won't walk away.

Back from the Sierras, I've ordered two pocket watercolor sets so we can add them to our hiking essentials. We're more likely to use them if they are already in our backpack and they'll be a fun addition to our basic sketchbook and pencil.

Resources

Nature journal in the making. Photo by Frog Mom

• The Magnifying Glass - Online Nature Journaling Blog: Nature Journal with Twig Binding Tutorial (awesome resource for crafty parents)
• Smithsonian Education: Introduction to the Nature Journal (for the ambitious ones)
• Sierra Club: downloadable Nature Journal template (for budding naturalists)
• Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth - Keeping a Nature Journal (for advanced tutorial)
• Family Fun: Back to Nature/A beginner's field journal from Family Fun by Kristi Dahl (simple and to the point)
• California State Parks: Nature Journal Observation Sheet (more like a log)

Meet Leafcutter Designs: Paper, Art and Whimsy

Dear child... Photo by Frog Mom

If the tooth fairy or the spider in the kitchen wrote a letter to your child, this is what it might look like: an inch wide envelope with your child's address in ant-size script and an equally small sender address in the top left corner. Turn it over, break the red wax seal, open it and slowly pull out a tiny letter. Coming from a fairy, it'll reveal a page of text and a shower of minuscule glitter stars. Unfold the magnifier and start reading. Now, what child won't be in total awe when receiving this letter?

Lea Redmond. Photo by Frog Mom

The World's Smallest Postal Service is the brainchild of Lea Redmond. A self-taught artist who runs Leafcutter Designs, Lea is the very impersonation of the "maker" spirit with her right brain and crafty fingers. I had the honor to visit her workshop in Oakland and behind the scenes, I also discovered that she offers other fascinating paper creations that I'd love to share with my readers.

First a few words about the World's Smallest Postal Service, a spark of whimsy in a cookie-cutter world. Today, anybody can send a tiny letter to someone special. Just get on Leafcutter Designs' website, let your creative juices flow, type your text and order online. It couldn't be any easier.

In December, Lea mails letters from Santa whose envelope is adorned with a little blue snowflake. Throughout the year she can personalize your letters with various shapes that symbolize the occasion - pacifier for baby, kite for father's day, and more.

In the past, Lea has mailed letters to whole classes, wedding invitations with urls for online details, corporate donor thank you's and love letters - even wedding proposals! "People get very creative," says Lea. Using vintage metal type fonts, she turns any message into something special that will be remembered - beats the email anytime.

Tiny packages. Photo by Frog Mom

 A 3-D corollary to tiny letters, Lea sends tiny packages with symbolic objects wrapped in tiny print newspaper - The Small Times - featuring a working crossword. Yet another opportunity to whip out the magnifier.

What's inside? Think a Christmas package with a spinning top, a love package with a compass (where would I be without you?) or a package with a tiny bouquet. The idea is not to send an expensive or a big bulky item to show you care but rather your message pared down to a symbol wrapped in a box. How powerful is that? Plus, the tiny twine wins my heart.

Wooden tokens. Photo by Frog Mom

You guessed it, Lea loves to conceptualize and her wooden tokens are another product in the same vein. By coincidence, I first came across them in the drawers of The Curiosity Shoppe in the Mission. I was hanging out with my girls and told them they could spend $2 each. They frantically opened drawers and found little knick-knacks including these wooden tokens which we started to decipher.

They can be redeemed for a song, for a hug, for a poem, for a pep talk, for a game to play or for a story read out loud. Any parent should have a few of those to spend quality time with their kids.

Matchbox Theater. Photo by Frog Mom

For older kids or your theater-loving friends, the Matchbox Theater is a ticket to a great time that ends with a live performance and 14 matchbox puppets. Unlike Lea's other creations, the matchbox theater comes as a kit that you assemble at home and I like it that way.

Any child who's 2nd grader and older (even younger if they're particularly crafty) could make the stage, glue the puppets on matches and read the script. Or guess what? You can make up your own storyline but I like Lea's selection of stories, some of which include haikus from Kobayashi Issa, an 18th century Japanese poet and Buddhist priest. Yes, we're far from goldilocks and the three bears!

Dicy games. Photo by Frog Mom

Lea's other creations are total brain teasers like the recipe dice - roll the dice and pick the ingredients for tonight's dinner, the wiggly eye dice - we like anything wiggly, the kit for hand stitching a letter, the dinner fortune teller napkins - have your guests fold the napkins and open them to read their fortune or the absurdly Dada paper umbrellas - to hand out to strangers on the street on a rainy day. How's that for creative fun?

Much like Elmo, Lea likes to share her ideas and on her website, you can even download and print templates for free projects to do at home on rainy days.

Now, one last thing before I leave you to ponder the many uses of paper. If you think the World's Smallest Postal Service is as great as I think it is, consider the World's Smallest Postal Service kit as a gift to your child or a friend on their next birthday. It'll be a riot and you might even receive a tiny letter in the mail - from a secret admirer. The invisible man perhaps?
  
World's Smallest Post Service Kit - An Introduction from Leafcutter Designs on Vimeo.

Outdoorsy Kids Crafts at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire

Do your own thing! Photos by Frog Mom and Inga Lim

When I asked a 4th grader what he wanted to make at my crafts table, he just replied "My own thing." Plain and simple. Wouldn't tell me more. Though the answer took me aback, I decided to watch him do his own thing while I was helping other kids. An hour later, a friend had joined him and they finished plotting fake dynamite bars to creep out kids at school. That was on Sunday at my East Bay Mini Maker Faire booth where a big sign behind my head clearly announced "Make Kid Binoculars and Outdoors Pioneer Dolls"! Life lesson: creativity takes kids to oddball places where it's OK for them to do their own thing. Go DIY spirit!

On Sunday October 16, 2011, the East Bay Mini Maker Faire was both a madhouse and a unique experience where from 10am to 4pm, I helped kids make two crafts to enjoy the outdoors: paper roll binoculars or telescopes and camping dolls. Here's the story.

Camping Dolls

Camping doll. Photo by Inga Lim

For this craft, I hijacked the concept of the corn husk doll or pioneer rag doll and came up with my own weatherproof version - the camping doll. Rather than the usual fabrics or rags, I looked for outdoorsy materials that would be sturdy enough to resist a winter hike or a rugged camping trip. Waterproof was definitely a plus. This is how I set out to find sailing cloth and tent material in the Bay Area.

Now, I was not going to buy a boat or a new tent to shred them to pieces - that wouldn't be very clever. Fortunately two sponsors came to the

My wonderful friends at work. Photo by Frog Mom

rescue. The SF REI store donated two "bad" tents they were going to throw away and Pineapple Sails in Alameda donated yardage of big sail cloth rolls (great colors too) and sail cloth scraps. Thank you REI and Pineapple Sails, you made many kids happy!

Drawing a face. Photo by Frog Mom

The night before the faire, several friends came to my house to cut the tents and bravely snipped through zippers and mesh material or figured out ways to cut rectangular shapes in dome-shaped tents. The oily and thin nature of the sail cloth made for interesting layers while the wrinkled vinyl of the tents added texture. The decking cloth proved to be too thick to use.

My first camping doll proof with an orange shiny tent material was unanimously rejected by an audience of 6 kids from age 3 to 8 - not cool, not fuzzy. I tried a variation with a thicker red tent material, added legs and that one won the heart of all kids. With a good design in mind, we cut hundreds of strips roughly 4" wide by 12" long. Thanks to Jason, Jacqueline, Laurance and Sofia for being such enthusiastic cutters!

Camping doll family. Photo by Inga Lim

Back at the faire, the camping doll activity was a big hit. It appealed to both preschoolers and grade-school kids which was good because I didn't know what type of kids would go for this craft. The younger kids tended to gravitate more naturally towards the binoculars activity.

Always one to challenge stereotypes, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a few boys actually asked to make dolls. Less encouraging was the reaction of several moms (note: moms, not dads) saying to their boys: "No you don't want to make a doll" or "Your doll needs to wear pants". People, leave the kids alone! If they want to make funky dolls, where's the harm?

Don Teakell cutting sail cloth at Pineapple Sails.
Photo by Frog Mom

One little girl spent about an hour at the booth making an entire family of camping dolls. First she made a mom. And a hat. Then she wanted a camping baby. Then she wanted a camping dad. Thank God my friend Inga has a crafty streak and could assist her wonderfully. We stopped short of the twice-removed cousins but I could see the endless possibilities in her buzzing bubbling young head.

Ironically while kids liked the camping doll right away, parents didn't pay attention until I told them the materials were sail cloth and tent material. Then they took a closer look, touched the pieces and commented on how cool this was. What's the saying - don't judge a book by its cover?

Instructions for Camping Dolls
If you too want to make these dolls at home, here is the process that I used. Kids: don't cut your folks' tent to make this at home. Ask your local sports store for free supplies. They can probably help you out.

Binoculars and Telescopes

Pint-size makers. Photo by Frog Mom

The idea for paper roll binoculars came when I was researching my book. I had just finished exploring the Lobos Creek Dunes in the Presidio when five kids from a local daycare zoomed by with home-made binoculars hanging around their neck. Each had decorated their own and they were going to look for bugs. Immediately I knew it would be part of the crafts section in my book and it was the initial activity I offered for the E.B. maker faire.

The materials list was simple: empty toilet paper rolls and paper. I debated long about whether I should use fabric or paper to cover the rolls and paper won, largely because I found big topo maps at SCRAP.

TP roll drive at BCMS. Photo by Frog Mom

Finding toilet paper rolls was a challenge because I signed up for the faire late in the game and couldn't search for supplies up to a week before. Again, a village came to my rescue. Several moms from the Golden Gate Mothers Group organized neighborhood collections and Big City Montessori School, my girls' former preschool, coordinated a full-on paper roll drive over 7 days.

Back at the faire, I stashed  200 TP rolls and regular paper rolls in a flowery chest, let kids pick two rolls the same size, let them choose safari pattern paper or topo maps and whipped out the tape and staples. Binocular time!

A boy gets help stapling the rolls while another tries his
new binoculars. Photo by Frog Mom

When a boy asked to make a telescope, I was tempted to refuse because the paper strips we had cut were TP roll size. Too small I thought. However  this was the master DIY faire so I reconsidered and said yes.

"Pick 3 pieces of paper!" I offered. And there, overlapping several bits of topo maps, we created the first telescope of the day, attaching it with a thick white rope for a more nautical look.

The binoculars were fun because some kids agonized on the choice of paper or map. Most parents preferred maps but the safari and jungle prints were cool too and all three had an outdoors connotation.

Binoculars Instructions
Basically I followed this process but I punched three holes in the rolls instead of two so the yarn would go twice through each tube. For the telescopes, I just punched two holes and used a thicker rope. Those were awesome because I found a box of ropes at SCRAP and kids picked their own.

Now the anecdotal side.

Signing my book. Photo by Inga Lim

Funny Things People Said To Me

"My boy is too old for binoculars": a mom after she asked me what activities I offered. Her boy was 10 years old. Sorry lady, the kids making dynamite bars don't seem to mind my activities and they're your boy's age.

"Did you do all the hikes?": a dad who bought my hiking guidebook. I know, surprising.

"I want to make a belt": a second grader after he had already made binoculars, a telescope and a camping doll.

"Do you have a studio?": the charming woman behind TinkerLab. Gosh, should I?

"I'm going to look for dragons": a 7-year old girl who just made binoculars. That's the spirit, girl!

The World Outside
I didn't see any of it since I spent the whole day behind my table but I have eyes and ears. First of all, my girls enjoyed crafts in my room.

Befuse activity. Photo by Befuse

With  Befuse they made plastic bags fused by heat and reshaped them as purses. WithTinkerlab Studio (in partnership with Heather and Whitney from 510families), they made magnet pins. People made giant pinwheels out of recycled calendars with the East Bay Depot Creative Reuse,  and crazy stuff with Duct Tape Projects. Just next to me was a great book-making artist.

Frog Mom and Frog Kids.
Photo by Inga Lim

Almost every kid came into the room with a blinking robot pin from Maker Shed. My friend Olivier raved about the ComBot Combat Robots. I saw great-looking hats and more robotic stuff come and go. It seemed fantastic and my only regret was that I didn't have time to go see the Smallest POstal Service in the World.

At The End of The Day
At 3.30pm Inga helped me pack up, my friend Olivier returned my girls - whom he had been taking all day around the faire - and I drove back home from Oakland in a zombie state. I was even happy I had leftover mac'n cheese from the previous night to eat for dinner.

It's hard work but the E.B. Mini Maker Faire was a fantastic first public event as Frog Mom and I loved the interaction with kids and parents. Looking forward to more - of the "do your own thing."

Loy Krathong

Next week I'm doing a presentation on Loy Krathong at my girls' school. Loy Krathong is the loveliest Thai festival, the festival of floating candle lights. It's a magical night where canal waters see hundreds of little krathongs (round floating vessels made out of banana tree trunk slices or styrofoam, and decorated with natural flowers or paper pedtals) float down with the current towards the ocean to wash away people's sins for the past year and honor the rivers. Every year, Loy Krathong takes place on the full moon of November and this year, it's the Saturday following Thanksgiving, November 24, 2007.

It used to be my favorite holiday growing up in Bangkok. We usually decorated our krathong at home during the afternoon, then stepped outside to float our krathongs on the canal flowing by our house. All Thai children make their krathongs at school in their early years. Loy Krathong is an occasion for Krathong contests and I've seen pictures of very elaborate and beautiful ones in the ancient city of Sukkhothai or Chiang Mai.
In adition to the floating krathongs, people organize beauty pageants and light up lanterns in the night sky in the northern provinces. It is a very pretty sight to see all these white lanterns (they are human size) fly up in the sky against a backdrop of firworks.
The beauty pageants are called "Noppamas Queen Contests", honoring Queen Noppamas who, according to the legend, started the festival. It seems that she brought back the tradition of floating a small vessel with a candle from India and she was the daughter of a Brahmin priest.
We can't really launch our krathongs at the beach as the beaches are closed because of the oil spill and our krathongs will be made of styrofoam. I yet have to find a place in California to buy slices of bananas trees or equivalent to make eco-friendly krathongs outside of Thailand. Our bath tub will do just fine. We won't forget, according to the tradition, to send away all our sins with the krathong and wish happy things for the year to come.

This is what I'll bring to school to speak about the festival:
- Supplies to make krathongs (styrofoam rounds, paper petals, glitter, candles and incense)
- a CD with the song Loy Krathong
- printouts of web pages showing kindergarten children making krathongs and pictures of Loy Krathong events and festivities in Sukkhothai and Samut Prakan.
Email me for Loy Krathong related craft activity. It's a one-pager.