Phase I – Discovery of a relic

Recently I came across an old digital camera of mine an old Canon point and shoot digital. I immediately thought my four year old boy might have some fun with it so I charged the battery and handed it to him one day when he was heading off to school. I confess I was pretty excited to see what sort of pictures he might take during that drive, and I was not at all disappointed. I am careful not to push him but sometimes I will conveniently set the camera where he can see it and/or say “do you want your camera for your drive to school”. He mostly takes photos in the car, which is good because if he drops it in there it is less likely to break. He has a pretty firm grip though, and no drops yet!

Phase II – Father and Son Photography Games

Sometimes when we go somewhere as a family I sit in the back seat with my son, usually when he asks me to. This passed weekend we road to the Oakland Zoo together in the back seat of our car while my wife drove on his request. He was taking a lot of photos and really starting to get the use of the camera down. It amazes me how natural kids are, if it didn’t take a picture right away he moved his head forward, side to side or just the camera until it did focus and take the shot. Eventually we started playing a game – “take a picture of….” this was his game. He would say “take a picture of a tree!” and we’d both try to take a picture of a tree. That evolved into “take a picture of each other!” so we started taking pictures of each other taking pictures. It was pretty funny and very fun. Note: the picture of my son was taken on my Droid with Camera 360 in “I Feel Lucky” mode.

My Enjoyment

I confess this is something I really look forward to, there are so many surprises in the batches of photos that he takes. I also greatly enjoy sharing the experience and exploration with him where he is guiding me through these discoveries, adding his own creativity to the mix. I don’t think I was artistic when I was young but it is definitely fun to watch our little artist work! Here are a few of my favorite photos he’s taken:

Rawr! T-Rex

Artistic Clouds and Urbanscape

Natural Trees

I would love to hear other games and creative things other parents have tried with their kids. I am happy to re-share them here, be sure to include links in your comments.