How to teach kids photography
Kids photography is a great hobby for kids and summer is a great time for teaching kids photography, as they have more “free time” to get creative. Here are some ideas for how you can get started teaching kids photography.
Teach the basics of photography
When it comes to teaching kids about photography, and have lots of fun doing it, you’ll need to cover the basic photography skills. Here are the basics of what you need to know before getting started with teaching kids about photography:
- What the shutter button does?
- What is natural light?
- How to fix blurry images
- Experiment with different shutter speeds
- Basic composition: Rule of thirds
Get them involved in your current hobby
One of my personal favourite photography activities to do with Jack is a photo walk. We go off on an adventure, taking photos when we’re inspired. Not only does it allow time outdoors together and also time to practice your photography. Scott Kelby does a world photo walk every year, if you want to make a day of it.
A great place to start in learning photography is learning how to slow down and see. Taking in your surroundings and challenging yourself to see things from a different perspective. To portray a feeling, a story and take pride in the new discovery of joy and beauty. This simple activity can be done in your local area, you don’t need to travel or spend money. Secret photo treasure can we found walking the dog around the local block, if you and your little one pay attention.
Kids Photography Classes
There are many different ways to teach kids about photography. Find some classes or summer photography camps for kids. Search your local area for one.
Kids Photography Games
Here are a few kids photography ideas to get your kids excited about learning photography and create some beautiful images.
Set up a photography challenge –
A-Z of Summer
Wanna build some literacy into it all. Challenge your little ones to take 26 photos A-Z. Some are easy, some not so easy. Not only will this help teach little kids their alphabet, but it will also teach them to be creative in their photography. Enjoy an A-Z Photo challenge.
Challenge yourself
Limiting and mastering one lens can challenge you find the limitations and benefits of a particular lens. This includes your smartphone. It’s a prime lens. Working out exactly what you can do with it so important to feeling confident.
Ask yourself:
- How close can I get to a subject?
- Zoom with your feet vs your camera zoom
- What’s the best subject for this lens?
- Play with different apertures.
- How does your position affect the perspective of the lens?
- How good is the autofocus performance of the lens?
Summer Bucket Lists
Create a summer wish list of photos you want to capture and go for it, check out my photography travel guide to keeps your gear safe.
Macro Photography
For those willing to invest a little. Macro photography is a whole new world for kids. Great for little kids who love bugs, food and the outdoors.
Creative Bubble Photography
Bubble Photography is a fun and creative hobby for kids to enjoy. All they need is a camera with manual settings and the bubbles! To capture these beautiful, wonderful colors, kids can choose to shoot with their own camera. The great thing about this process is how hands-on it is – just add bubbles, take a photo, repeat!
Make a photo book of your summer.
Now that you’ve taken a whole load of photos, don’t them sit in your computer/ phone. Create something with them. A summer photo albums is a great activity to teach your kids photography towards the end of summer. It allows children to remember all the fun you had. It could be used to practice some literacy with getting them to write captions for each photo, or taken into school for show and tell.
Summer Photo Challenge #Summerschool #BootCamp
Need something for the kids to do either solo or in a small group. I’ve created a Summer Photography Camp Toolkit, with a wide range of printable photography activities for kids aged 3-18.
All you need is a camera and some imagination.
Kids photography Tips
- Keep it simple
- Give them creative freedom to take their own pictures and edit them how they want
- Encourage experimentation with different subjects, styles, and techniques
- Let them photography what they love. Whether thats going close up on creepy crawlers, or try toy photography.
- Let them play with editing their photos.
- Have fun printing them
- Remember art is subjective. Talk about why they love it that way.
