By: Amy Zvonar
BraveHeart Center for Place and Purpose (BCPP) and Alabama Water Watch (AWW) journeyed to nearby Kreher Preserve and Nature Center (KPNC) on a warm, fall day in November to practice the art of nature journaling. Read on to discover how we used the journaling prompts “I notice”, “I wonder”, “It reminds me of”, to engage with the natural world!
Nature journaling does not require much; it starts as simply as having an interest in noticing the world around you. AWW and BCPP are spending the 2025-2026 school year practicing nature journaling as a way to encourage environmental stewardship. Our plan is to visit several locations around Auburn where we will notice, wonder, and make connections to the environment. Through the photos and drawings they create, the young adults will build their relationship with nature and learn methods of caring for the world around them. KPNC was our first stop in our journaling journey, and we created enough wonderful noticings to fill a book!
We were welcomed to KPNC by Education Administrator Jenn Travis, who provided an engaging program about the animals that live at the Preserve. Jenn introduced us to many different types of animals, including birds, insects, mammals, and reptiles!
Some of the things we noticed were as follows:
Feathers are light and have patterns of stripes and dots!
Mammals have fur that can feel soft and warm!
Insects have 6 legs and antennae!
Turtles have scales called scutes (which sounds like scoots!). Turtles move faster than we expected.
Snakes have so many beautiful colors. They are strong!
The BCPP young adults used their cameras to capture what they were noticing and wondering about while Jenn taught about the animals. The photos reveal how closely the young adults noticed details about the animals in Jenn’s presentation. The words they shared during the presentation revealed connections they made to their own experiences. One young adult, after seeing a bird’s nest, revealed she has two nests at her home. Another was reminded of the book Yertle the Turtle while we watched a box turtle move around.
After the animal presentation, we enjoyed storytime with AWW staff member, Amy. We read the book The Hike by Alison Farrell.
Using the ideas in the book and our experience with the animals, we went on a hike of our own. We used our senses to notice different colors, patterns, movement, sounds, textures, and smells!
We discovered some amazing mushrooms growing from a log.
We saw that leaves can be many different shapes.
We wondered why this tree seemed to have wings on its branches,
and if any of us had the wingspan of a bald eagle.
In the wildflower field, we wondered if we could find any flowers before making a connection between the fluffy seeds and lightweight feathers. We tried to see if the seeds would float on the breeze!
Throughout our hike, we noticed bird calls and wondered about the singing chorus hidden from our sight. To celebrate the end of our hike, Amy wondered if the group wanted to learn a bird call, and we all pretended to be chickadees for a bit. These two important practices of nature journaling, noticing and wondering, led to an important connection for one of the young adults. After learning the chickadee call, he shared the calls of the American robin and the mourning dove! We were all delighted to make this connection to his knowledge about birds!
Our hike at KPNC was a great way to kick off our nature journaling practice for the 2025-2026 school year. It is also one way the AWW staff can acknowledge the important contributions made by the young adults from BCPP to our work. Each week during the Fall and Spring semesters, young adults from BCPP build the water quality manuals AWW relies on for training our volunteers. We are grateful for their commitment to our mission! We will continue to share the noticings, wonderings, and connections we make with BCPP during our journaling journeys in 2026. We invite all our AWW volunteers, supporters, and anyone interested in the natural world to try nature journaling for themselves! For tips on how to get started, the AWW staff suggests checking out the Wild Wonder Foundation website for free resources.