Nature Logbook
Elafonisos, Greece | 23.06.2025 – 02.07.2025
About the project
The Nature Logbook training course was designed to reconnect youth workers with the natural environment and to rediscover learning through direct experience in nature. In a world where most young people spend hours online and only minutes outdoors, the project encouraged participants to slow down, observe, and reflect.
Hosted on the peaceful island of Elafonisos, Greece, the training provided an immersive outdoor learning setting where digital distractions were replaced by hands-on discovery. Participants explored how nature itself can become a classroom for creativity, observation, and emotional awareness.
Our objectives
Project purpose
The project aimed to equip youth workers with new tools and practices to guide young people in exploring and understanding nature through hands-on activities, observation, and personal reflection.
ENGAGE
youth workers in analog, nature-based learning methods by exploring tools for ecological education and reflection.
Co-create and test
practical outdoor activities that can be used with young people in different natural environments, focusing on observation, experimentation, and sensory connection with nature.
Strengthen
the capacity of youth workers to foster ecological awareness among young people through creative, low-tech, and replicable educational tools.
Activities & Methods
The project was designed as a fully immersive outdoor experience where nature itself became the main learning environment. Over seven working days, participants engaged in a variety of workshops and challenges that combined observation, experimentation, reflection, and creativity. The program encouraged active participation, teamwork, and the exchange of practices among youth workers from different countries, following four steps:
1.
Experienced
a set of outdoor activities prepared by the trainers to explore nature through observation and creativity.
2.
Used
the tested activities to understand how to engage young people in meaningful, nature-based learning.
3.
Worked
in small groups to design their own activities, inspired by what they experienced and adapted to their local context.
4.
Contributed
to the co-creation of a complete Nature Logbook, combining all activities, journaling pages, and methods into a usable educational tool.
Project Gallery
Results
The main outcome of the project was the Nature Logbook Toolkit — a co-created educational resource designed to inspire outdoor learning through observation, reflection, and experimentation. It compiled all tested activities, creative exercises, and journaling elements developed during the training.
The Nature Logbook can be freely used, printed, and adapted by educators, NGOs, and youth organizations to engage young people in meaningful, nature-based learning experiences.
Project
Impact
Practical Learning
Participants gained hands-on experience in using outdoor and analog learning tools to reconnect young people with nature.
Collaboration Network
The training strengthened cooperation among seven European organizations, building a shared network for future ecological initiatives.
Improved Competences
Youth workers enhanced their ability to design and deliver educational activities that promote mindfulness, observation, and environmental awareness.
Lasting results
The Nature Logbook Toolkit continues to be used in follow-up activities and local workshops, extending the project’s impact beyond its duration.
Project
Evaluation
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
