To celebrate the release of my third picture book, A Year With Mama Earth, I’m creating a nature journal inspired by Rebecca Green’s illustrations and the book’s lyrical text.

February Nature Journal

February, with hopes for spring, but very few signs of that mysterious sprite. Instead of surviving winter, let’s dress in layers and explore! Some animal activity is easier to see in the cold months—fewer leaves to block views, tracks made clear by fresh snow (or mud or sand … the deep midwinter wears different clothes in different parts of the world), so grab your pages and head outside!

If you haven’t yet started My Year Nature Journal, I strongly recommend card stock for the cover and something heavier than standard copy paper for the internal pages (28lb minimum). Either three-hole-punch and place in a binder or hole punch and hold together with rings. You’ll be adding more pages each month, so be sure your binder has plenty of room! 2” should suffice.

A Walk Through February’s Lessons:

Be sure to add your Month Sticker! Download the printable file at the end of this post. I’ve included a place on every month’s first page for students to draw a seasonal self-portrait.

This month we’ll focus our self portraits on our feet. What’s your footwear of choice and what tracks will you make?

Science with Ice

A (slightly strange) Valentine’s Dance

All About Matter:

Along with your Nature Journal pages, you might enjoy these activities and printables.

• Oobleck is such a strange substance—liquid and solid at the same time?!? Find an easy Oobleck recipe here.

• If you live in any cold climate, why not use the cold for fun? Make Ice Lanterns with this tutorial.

Plus, learn more about the states of matter below.

Three states of matter +one

Matter Jam!

Animal Tracks & Crafts:

My kids love (and I mean love) finding animal tracks on our daily trek to the bus stop. Since we live in the woods in snowy Michigan, we often find anything from raccoon and deer to the neighbor’s cats. Enjoy the animal track inspired activities below.

• Turn flip-flops into animal tracks with this super cute activity.

• Or, if you can make it past the ads and pop-ups, download this Move Like An Animal Activity Dice activity.

All About Animal Tracks

An Animal Track Song

Nocturnal, Diurnal, or …

Did you know that some animals we consider nocturnal actually aren’t? Find out about crepuscular animals below.

Enjoy exploring with the recommendations below (affiliate links).

Animal Tracks Game.

Everything you need for Tracking kit.

One of my favorite snowy-tracks books.

Writer’s Corner:

Watch these videos on character to bring your writing to life!

So that’s it! Sit back, download, print. Then *get outside* to enjoy the month while you can! On those yucky days, check out the videos above. And be sure to subscribe so you’ll be first to know when next month’s pages are available.

Subscribe below for a sample of my Nature Journal printables!

To preview any of these items, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store. You’ll be able to see several pages of each download.