What is The Library Of Nature?

Hello. I'm Eleanor Chaney – The founder of The Library Of Nature. I wanted to write this introduction for parents, carers and teachers to welcome you to the project and to share what it can bring to the children in your life.

The Library Of Nature is informed by 15 years of experience running workshops in schools and for families in the community, and also my own journey as a parent. It aims to give children everywhere access to high quality, carefully designed, engaging, creative activities that enable then to develop their own creative skills and interests, and also to inspire a curiosity in the natural world. Everyone who works on the project shares these values and goals.

In this project I have tried to gather a variety of magical experiences I've seen children enjoy, such as:

Opening a beautiful book and reading it on their own

Finding a leaf floating on a puddle

Using a new pack of coloured pencils

Finding a newt at the edge of a pond

Visiting a museum or a library for the first time

Writing their name and the title on a story of their own creation

My intention is to incorporate these and other moments of curiosity, creativity and wonder into a website experience they can both explore and enjoy.

How can you use it?

At The Library Of Nature we know that as much as we might want to spend time outdoors with our children, sometimes the weather gets in the way, or we have other things we need to do. Some days it's difficult to convince them that a nature walk is worth putting on shoes and a coat for.

The activities on this website are intended to help you encourage your child's interest in the natural world. Workshops they follow indoors will help them learn facts about wildlife, to identify local species and to understand ideas like conservation and ecology. But we hope the spotter sheets and nature journals can also act as a fun family activity to encourage them to get on their wellies and come out for a walk.

Likewise, we understand that it's not always easy to do creative activities with children. There can be the frustrations of finding you don't have the materials needed or the time necessary, and sometimes the thought of all the mess afterwards is just a bit too much. All the activities in the The Library Of Nature are created with this in mind.

Each activity contains a key to let you know what age group it is designed for, how long we think it will take, what materials you need, and whether or not your child can complete it simply with supervision or if it's a project for you to do together. Activities range from colouring and drawing sheets you can instantly download and print off, to quick 10 minute makes they can go on to play with, to small self-contained projects you can complete over a few crafting sessions. I have illustrated all the activities and the website with my own illustrations which I hope children will find inspiring.

We also run live workshops for families through our Facebook page, and can deliver virtual visits to schools which you can learn more about in the 'For Schools' section of our website.

Why did I create it?

The Library Of Nature is the gathering together of many of my own passions including illustrating nature, collecting vintage books, visiting museums and libraries and supporting people in developing their own creativity.

Alongside my own creative practice as an illustrator and papercutter (which you can learn more about on my website) I have worked in both formal and community education in since 2008 supporting people of ages in developing their own creative skills. For much of this I have specialised in artistic workshops focusing on both nature and visual storytelling.

I am also a parent, and like many parents I try to find a balance between bringing nature and creativity into our lives while also leaving time to cook the tea and hang up the washing. I found making things with my own child a very different experience from delivering workshops to classes or groups. Ideas I found on the internet would often leave her frustrated because they took too long, or would use materials that we didn’t have to hand or that weren't very sustainable. This led to me to imagining a way of creating and sharing art activities that were designed primarily with children in mind, and that were accessible to everyone whatever their time availability or art supplies.

During the pandemic like many freelancers I lost most of my work, and I found myself returning to the idea of virtual 'library' of creative activities. I noticed how many families described nature as a place to escape, but also became aware of the challenges many parents faced in finding the time or energy to explore the outdoors every day. With museums and libraries closed, schools shut for many children and teachers stretched as they tried to teach across different platforms it seemed there wasn't as much time for the arts.

From these idea for the The Library Of Nature grew – a virtual illustrated library of nature inspired creative activities for children and families to enjoy during the pandemic and beyond.

To make sure The Library Of Nature is enjoyed by as many children as possible this stage of the project also includes free workshops for schools in South Cumbria, please visit ‘For Schools’ to learn more. As the project develops we hope to build digital inclusion into our work.

Join the library and keep in touch!

To welcome you to The Library Of Nature, we have created a free resource of outdoor ideas and creative inspiration for you to use throughout the year, the ‘Wildlife Explorer Pack’. Illustrated with my own artwork this includes activites for all ages, and is suitable for those who live in cities or those who live in remote locations.

To download your free ‘Wildife Explorer Pack’ simply join our mailing list using the link below. We promise to use your information respectfully and will only contact you regarding The Library Of Nature and its resources.

You can also join us on our Facebook and Instagram pages. We run free family activities and drawing workshops for all ages in our Facebook Group, so please do join the group and take part!

If you are a school or community group please visit the ‘For Schools’ page on our website to learn more about virtual workshops and the opportunities we can create for your children.

You can always get in touch with us by email at librarian@thelibraryofnature.com

Please note we are the librarians of an imaginary library only!