NATURE JOURNALING: ZOOM IN, ZOOM OUT
One of our favourite activities at Shoresh is making and drawing or writing in our nature journals! Do you have a nature journal? It can be any notebook or handmade book that you use to record your nature adventures!
Materials:
- Notebook
- Markers, crayons, or coloured pencils
Directions:
- The first thing to do is go on an adventure searching for a magnificent creature or plant! Think about where you might find a creature such as a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. Have you seen the kinds of flowers listed on the other side of this card recently in a garden or park close by?
- Observe your subject carefully, paying attention to its shape, colours, and other features. If you are going to draw a moving creature, you will probably need to do this activity from memory.
- Make a life-size drawing of what you are observing. (Ex. If you chose a flower that is as big as half of one of your sheets of paper, your drawing should take up half the sheet of paper).
- Now, Zoom in! Draw a circle around a section of your drawing. On a blank section of your page (or on a new page), draw a close-up view of just the part that is circled. (Ex. If you circled one petal of the flower, draw as many details as you can of the petal. The zoomed-in drawing can be as big as your first drawing!).
- Finally, Zoom out! Take a few steps back. On a blank section of paper, draw a picture of your subject including some of the environment around it. (Ex. If your flower is part of a plant that has several other leaves and flowers on it, you can draw the whole plant, or even draw the whole garden where the plant is located!). Make a circle to mark where your subject is located in the zoomed-out picture.
Go to PAGE 7 to learn about how you can support the local Carpenter Bees!