June 2021 Journal Prompts

We’re diving in to my favorite (and usually most busy) part of the year! June brings warmer weather, the first pool days, and lots of lush greenery. It’s also a time of nostalgia for me. (Though it seems like EVERY season is nostalgic for me these days 😅). One of the saddest memories was summer 2013 after I’d started my first “adult” full-time job, and I didn’t have the summer off anymore. I didn’t realize how important for my creative life that time of heat and summer haze was until it was gone.

So in anticipation of June being a very FULL month I wanted to capture some of that childlike fun I so miss in this month’s journal prompts.

This month you’ll find the Saturday photo challenge again (because the pages I’ve been creating with them are just too fun not to continue!) along with some very summer and childhood memory-centric prompts. (Well except for 6/15’s “Is there only one soul mate for each person?” which I ran across in my prompt search and thought was too interesting of a question to not include!)

And the new element I added this month (because I’m always tinkering, aren’t I?) is doodles! While I love writing every day (and I think it’s made it easier and more cathartic for me to write), I wanted to find a way to work a slightly different creative muscle that wouldn’t take as much of a time commitment.

After the Sketchnotes and visual journaling class I took last August I’ve been incorporating simple doodles in my journaling already. Most notably on my weekly round up pages, but also as illustrations in my daily writing on occasion. But this month I wanted to be a little more explicit with my intention to doodle so I’m alternating writing and doodling prompts every other day.

Now before you panic and say, “But Kaitlyn! I can’t draw!” I want to encourage you that 1.) your doodling doesn’t have to look good, it’s just another way to creatively express yourself! And 2.) I have doodling tips for you!

The biggest doodling help I’ve had since I started visual journaling is a website called The Noun Project which is a comprehensive icon collection created with the intent to establish a common visual language. Think about it like this, when someone asks you to draw a sun, what does it look like?

Something like this?

Or what about money?

Ideally, if you looked at any of the images above, you’d know with a glance what any of them were referring to. This is the basic idea behind visual journaling and how to think about these doodle prompts.

So you can use The Noun Project (and sometimes Google Image Search if you’re going for something a bit more complicated) as a simple reference for your doodles. Search a word or phrase, scroll through the catalog, and pick an icon to try your hand at! Grab a marker and add a pop of color to really make it stand out. But above all, take the pressure off yourself and just have fun!

If you’re following my 2021 prompts, remember to share what you’re writing/creating with me over on Instagram, and check out my creations on my stories!

Happy journaling my friends!

1. How do you spend your summer months?
2. Doodle It! If you were to get a tattoo, what would it look like?
3. 5 new things I’d like to experience this summer are…
4. Doodle It! What’s in your bag?
5. PHOTO CHALLENGE! Orange
6. How would life be different if you could go back 10 years with the knowledge you have now?
7. Doodle It! The ingredients of your favorite dish.
8. What was your favorite summer treat as a child?
9. Doodle It! Make a 4-panel comic of how your day went.
10. What is your favorite song for the summer?
11. Doodle It! Turn your favorite word into a doodle.
12. PHOTO CHALLENGE! Sunset
13. Make a list of all your small victories this week.
14. Doodle It! Some fruits with faces.
15. Is there only one soul mate for each person?
16. Doodle It! Your favorite people and/or pets.
17. Summer tastes like…
18. Doodle It! If you were an animal, what would you be?
19. PHOTO CHALLENGE! Fierce
20. Write a letter about (or to) your father.
21. Doodle It! Something that starts with the letter P.
22. Imagine an alternate you.
23. Doodle It! Items that you collect.
24. Write a letter to a childhood friend.
25. Doodle It! Your favorite flower.
26. PHOTO CHALLENGE! Water
27. Write about your favorite memory with water.
28. Doodle It! Ice cream
29. What’s one thing you’d like to accomplish in July?
30. Doodle It! Your dream vacation.