Kids Nature Themed Photography Journaling Prompts!
30 Days of Nature-Eco Themed Photography Journaling Prompts
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Today, 19th August, is World Photo Day! An ideal time to start thinking about a photography project for your child.Photography is an awesome way for our kids to express their inner emotions, feelings and thoughts.
Photography is a therapeutic art expression, that can give young people’s self-esteem and confidence a boost, as they are in control of the camera and the end result is a reflection of their awesomeness.
30 days of Nature-Eco Photography Journaling Prompts for kids, is a springboard project. By consciously thinking about the photography subject, could be a tree, a flower or a landscape, your child will foster their observation and organisation skills, imagination, artistic expression, creativity and design understanding. Scientific concepts are also honed as your child thinks about light rays and waves, shade,perspective and dimensions.
As a result, your child may develop a lifelong interest and career in photography! Or it could lead them down an exciting related path to filmmaking, stop-motion, animation, special effects, etc.
Introduce a prompt each day or week, and just let your child run with it, and see what imaginative avenues it takes them down!
If your child is already an avid photographer, use these prompts as an extra source of inspiration and challenge.
By the end of the challenge your child will have an amazing collection of photos that could be used in a variety of artistic ways.
Some ideas:
Design a collage with your photos.
Some ideas for collage wall displays
Cover home education folders and jotters with your photos. I remember at school we had to cover all our school jotters with magazines or wrapping paper!
Devise a powerpoint of your photos and a few sentences describing how you snapped your photos.
Create a portfolio or Journal.
Include a display of your photos for a homeschool folio of learning evidence.
Create personalized gifts for your family and friends for birthdays and Christmas: cups,framed photos,cushions,t-shirts,tote bags, tea-coasters, fridge magnets.
Create a stone-wire photo holder
Construct homemade photo frames with cardboard, magazines, popsicle sticks, dowels, sticks
Make an awesome looking photo frame from a cereal box!
One of your photos may be ideal for starring on a homemade birthday or christmas card.
Include your collection of photos on a Digital Photo Frame.
Add your photos to a Digital Photo album.
Share your photos on the Earth Cadets Education Facebook Page ‘Save The Planet Photo/Art Challenge’ which has weekly themed challenges. However, any nature-eco themed photo is welcomed at any time.
Below is a table of the 30 days of photography prompts. A pdf version can be downloaded here.
30 Days of Nature-Eco Photography Journaling Prompts
| 1. Photograph an endangered species. Either flora or fauna. Find out what's endangered in your area. Could be the real animal,plant or a model/statue/ illustration in a book etc.  | 2. Photograph a plant-based breakfast, lunch, dinner/tea/supper/snack. Arrange it so it looks attractive for the photo!  | 3. Photograph an area of natural wildlife in your local environment: A green corridor, wasteland, woodland, hedgerow, etc.  | 4. Photograph your country's national flower. For Scotland it is the Thistle.  | 5. Photograph your country's national animal. A photo of the real animal, a toy model, statue/book illustration, etc.  |
| 6. Photograph plastic litter/rubbish found within your local environment: Fields,beaches,woods,streets, etc.  | 7. A photographic survey of all the local birds in your area. Take a photo of each different bird species you can see in a day.  | 8. Photograph the first signs of autumn or spring (depending on where you are in the world!) Could be the first orange leaf,rusty coloured leaves blowing around, the first flower bulb, cherry blossoms, etc.  | 9. Take a close up photograph of an insect or bug. Get as close as you can, but be careful and avoid being stung!  | 10. Photograph the moon. The full moon may give more light for a better shot. You could take photos of the full moon each month and compare. Or photos of the moon at various stages during the month.  |
| 11. Take a close up photo of your favourite flower,plant or tree. Could be flora from your local environment, or visit a plant nursery or botanical garden.  | 12. Photograph the setting sun. You might get lucky and the sky may light up with awesome colours. We witnessed a purple sunset sky this month!  | 13. Snap a selfie with nature! Photograph yourself in the thicket of a natural area. Just you and nature hanging out!  | 14. Take an outdoor photograph of something in nature that includes a shadow. Such as a tree and its shadow.  | 15. Take a candid photograph of someone recycling. A candid photo is a photo which isn’t posed for.  |
| 16. Photograph a natural water feature. Either a waterfall, puddle, stream, sea, lake,loch,river, sea,pond,rain drops on a window, bubble, frozen puddle,ford, swamp, ditch etc.Brownie points for including the landscapes reflection in the water!  | 17. Photograph wildlife or plants in a town, city, village or other built-up area. The flora and fauna of an environment is often not deterred by manmade structures and tries to exist wherever it can.  | 18. Photograph a patch of ‘weeds’ Weeds need more credit. They are microecosystems for a variety of species, and can provide us with amazing herbal remedies.  | 19. Photograph an electric car, green vehicle,plug-in hybrid, bus or other mode of transport. And/Or an electric charging station for vehicles.  | 20. Photograph some eco-friendly, fair-trade or sustainable packaged food, or other commodity.  |
| 21. Photograph a renewable power source such as windmills, wind turbines, solar panels,solar oven, hydroelectric dam, tidal power plant, hydroelectric plant, etc.  | 22. Photograph your family enjoying nature. Could be having a picnic, playing,reading, throwing a ball for your family dog,strolling, looking at trees or a flower, paddling in a little stream, walking along the beach.  | 23. Photograph a weather phenomena: rain, storm,hail,windy days,lightening (but keep safe!),rainbows, clouds,northern lights,ocean waves,sunny day, sun rippling on water,ice,snow, etc. Never photograph the sun directly!  | 24. Photograph the outside of a vegan or vegetarian shop/restaurant/cafe/takeout/ food truck/van/ market stall/health shop. If these are not options then photograph anyone of the above, that features good vegan/ vegetarian options. You could also photograph the menu!  | 25. Take a landscape photograph that includes a manmade structure within the photo. Eg. building, sign, airplane, boat, bin, telegraph wire cabling and poles, mobile phone mast,bridge.  |
| 26. Photograph a plant that uses spores rather than seeds to propagate.The most common are moss, lichen, and ferns.  | 27. Photograph patterns in nature. Such as symmetry, spirals, tessellations, waves, repetition, cracks,spots and stripes,warning patterns,etc. You could also photograph some man-made patterns and compare these with your natural pattern photos.  | 28. Photograph flora in your natural environment that is edible and could be foraged. Such as specific, identified berries, nuts, fruits,mushrooms, flowers, and herbs. Be careful! Only consume foragable food that has been properly identified as safe! Alternatively photograph a kitchen garden, herb garden or vegetables growing in pots etc.  | 29. Photograph some fungi. Such as toadstools and mushrooms. Brownie points for finding a ‘fairy ring’! Mold is part of the same family as fungi, so you could photo some mould on cheese, bread, etc!  | 30. Photograph the view of the tree-tops from the perspective of the ground. Look up in a wooded area or under a tree, and photograph pointing to the sky.  |
Nature-Eco Photography Journaling Prompts For Kids
30 Links to helpful photography sites for advice,tips and articles on photography, as well as smartphone photography, photo slideshows from National Geographic, history of the camera, how cameras work.
And a make your own pinhole camera experiment:
Tips and advice on introducing children to digital photography
Tips for getting kids interested in photography
Awesome slideshow of nature and landscape photos from National Geographic
Dramatic Photos of ‘Life on Earth’ slideshow from National Geographic
Slideshow of rainbows from around the world from National Geographic
Learn about photographing wildlife
Learn about photographing pets includes a video
Learn about composition,subject, the viewer’s path and aspect ratio
Ideas for taking photographs with shadows
Learn about borders,proportions,shapes,line,focus,negative space
Learn about why using scale in outdoor photography results in more exciting photos
Learn about taking photos in Autumn
Learn about how studying civilisations greatest painters can inspire your photography
Learn about close-up landscape photography
Learn about weather photography and the use of light
Tips for taking photos at the beach
Tips for taking photos with your mobile phone
All about patterns in nature from Wikipedia
A Timeline of the history of photography
How Cameras work for Kids, PBS video clip
Pinhole camera experiment for kids
Interesting article on the similarities between poetry and photography as artistic expressions
Nature-Eco Photography Journaling Prompts For Kids
If your child enjoyed this challenge, check out even more artistic challenges. Including cryptozoology nature journaling,art prompts, music prompts, nature challenges and creative writing journaling prompts. All with an eco-nature theme: HERE!
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This is a fantastic blog post. So much information! As a former elementary art teacher, it is right on the mark.
Thanks very much! So glad you enjoyed my post 🙂
So inspiring. Plenty of ideas..
Thanks! 🙂