Get the Kids Involved: Photography Activities to do with Your Kids

This past weekend my oldest daughter Megan took out her photobooks and wanted me to sit with her to look through the pages. I sat with her for a while and then got up to do a few things around the house. She continued to sit there taking each book out and looking through the pages. I'm not going to lie, to see her pouring over these books of photos that I have taken of us over the years made my day.

When I take my camera out at home, I sometimes get the annoyed: "stop mom, no photos", sometimes they don't notice and other times they want to get in on the action and take photos themselves. They may take 21 photos of the same thing that are blurry and cut off but the point is not a perfect photo. My 3 year old took this portrait of me and I love it.

All of this got me thinking, I need to find ways to encourage this side of my kids and maybe there are others like me. One big thing about photography is that it really helps to develop the "observer" or the "noticer" part of people. It takes you outside of yourself to see things differently, to seek out an interesting perspective and to capture it.

I came up with a few games you can try with your kids that centre around photography. Every child is different and of course these could be adapted depending on the age and abilities of your child/children.

1) Take three photos of random objects around your home. You can do this with your child or you can do it yourself to make it a surprise, or even take turns. Use those three photos to build a story where you incorporate each object into the story.

2) Pick a theme and ask your child to go around to find and take photos of all of those objects that fit the theme. This can be as simple as a colour (find anything green and take a photo of it). You could take turns and see how each of you captured the same theme.

3) Take close up photos of various objects around the house and ask your child to guess what they are.

4) Scroll through that big photo library on your phone and find a photo of your child. Tell them the story behind that photo. You can also ask your child to pick the photo they want to hear about. What were you doing that day? Where were you and who were you with? Kids love to hear their stories and too often those photos get stuck on our phone and our kids never see them. I'm so guilty of this!

5) Ask your child to photograph 5 things they love. Get some of these printed just for them.

6) Let your child be the photographer and document some of your family time together. Ask them to take photos to tell the story of your morning or other routine.

These activities can be done indoors or outdoors and can be a great way to beat that cabin fever if you are stuck inside. They invite your kids to capture the details of the things around them. You may be surprised just how observant kids naturally are.

Do you have another game or activity to add? Let me know about it!