The K5 - elementary education for parents

These days, everyone has some sort of digital camera. And I am sure that at some point, your child has gotten hold of it or quite possibly has one of their own. Click, click, click – they snap away, taking image after image.

When I was five-years-old, my mother bought me was a small Kodak camera. She would buy me one roll of film at a time. The only way I could get the next roll would be after we reviewed and critiqued the previous one. I’d get to see what I liked and didn’t like, and think about what to shoot next. It was a great way for me improve my skills and to crtitically think as well.

With a digital camera, the results are immediate, and the cost of film is not an issue, so this type of critique can fall by the wayside. Here’s two activities that will inspire conversation and get your kids to think about photography and what they like to shoot.

1. Have your child chose three favorite photos out of a bunch they shot.
2. Under each photo, encourage them to write what they liked or didn’t like about each image. Did they like the color? The subject? The light?
3. Then suggest that they re-shoot the same subjects, and do the same thing. Now they can compare and contrast.
4. Create a booklet of images that they have critiqued.
5. Check a book of photography out of the library of work that is of interest to them, or look online. Now ask your child to apply their new critiquing skills to another photographer’s work.

Next idea: The Photo Book

1. Encourage your child to take a bunch of images, related or unrelated.
2. Print them and place them on a table or on the floor.
3. Then encourage them to write a story, using the images as the pictures. Have your child put them in whatever order they want. They can create a beginning, middle and end, and be as creative as they like.
4. Have them write a caption of paragraph, depending upon their age and ability, for each page.
5. At the end of the story they can re-arrange the images, re-write sections of the story, or scrap it all and write a completely new story. Or they can take a few more pictures to fill in where needed.

Set up activities that encourage your child to think about what they are shooting, and provide them with activities that are both creative and inspire them to read and write, while having fun and making something of their own.