Teaching Photography to Kids
Nothing beats hands on learning. And when you put a camera into the hands of your child, you have a ready made lesson that feels like fun. Kids who take pictures learn to observe the world around them and appreciate the little details. It’s also a chance for them to be creative and feel important by getting the chance to decide what’s photo worthy.
Here’s a quick method to help your child learn some basic photography skills and have a whole bunch of fun in the process.
What you need
- A point and shoot camera, or an old smartphone with a camera
- Method to print photographs
- Blank photo album
Basic lessons
Take your child on an adventure that’s sure to have some great photo opportunities. The park or the zoo are excellent choices.
Lesson 1: Hold still
Photography is the perfect chance to show kids the value of slowing down and holding still sometimes! Show your child the different results of taking a picture while wiggling (blurry result) and taking a picture while holding perfectly still (clear, in focus shot).
Lesson 2: The rule of 3
The “rule of 3” is a simple way to compose a good looking photograph. Imagine that the viewfinder is divided into three equal sections from left to right and top to bottom, making 9 squares. Some cameras will actually display these lines in the viewfinder. Teach your child that you want the most interest part of your subject to fall on a line, or where the lines intersect.
Lesson 3: Fill the frame
Show your little one how to get close to a subject and let it fill up most of the viewfinder. Imagine taking a picture of a friend going down a slide. You want the slide and the friend to take up most of the space, you don’t need to see the rest of the playground, too.
Show off the results
Help your child print off all the photos they took and talk about which ones they like the best. Then print out your child’s favorites (you can use MemoryWeb to print directly to your local Walgreens) and put all them in a special album to showcase their hard work and artistic eye!
