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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Teaching Childrens Photography Class- Need ideas??
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01/26/2009 03:53:31 PM · #1
I participate in a local Homeschool Co-op. We meet once a week for 12 weeks. Different Parents teach different classes and I was asked to teach a Photography class. The kids are in the 3rd-5th grade range. Everyone is required to have a P&S camera. I plan on teaching the basics of how to use their camera, different techniques as well as the creative side of photography. We will also be learning about lighting and doing "school photos" of all the kids in the Co-op at the end of the semester. We will have a weekly assignment for the kids based on what we learned that week.

What I am looking for are creative ideas or projects the kids could do. Has anyone done anything like this before with younger children? Do you know of any websites with age appropriate information?

Any help would be wonderful.


01/26/2009 03:54:45 PM · #2
I guess having them all vote on each others photographs is out of the question?

My grandson recently had a class like that in school. I can make an inquiry and see if the teacher is willing to share some details.

Message edited by author 2009-01-26 15:56:17.
01/26/2009 03:57:26 PM · #3
I think it would be great if you did a weekly challenge for them, and when they come back the next week, they should have emailed you their picture and then you can show each child's picture during class and let the class vote and critique eachothers work. and the winner gets to pick the following week's challenge.
01/26/2009 04:01:51 PM · #4
Hmmmmm.

I did some things with my 2nd grader and photography. I basically gave him the camera with a fairly small memory card, set the camera on on "P" or auto, showed him how to tell how many pictures he had left and told him to take pictures of things that were important. Then when his memory card was full we downloaded them to the computer and talked about his choices. The results were quite interesting.
01/26/2009 04:03:15 PM · #5
I'd definitely start by asking them what kind of photos they are interested in taking -- list the topics and prioritize.

Make sure they have some hands-on activity with their camera every session.

Are they going to be learning photo editing as well, or will everything be "straight from the camera"? If the latter, you need to spend more time learning lighting and composition, and how to use things like exposure compensation and fill-flash to overcome the limitations of most P&S cameras.
01/26/2009 04:05:01 PM · #6
Originally posted by Spazmo99:

Hmmmmm.

I did some things with my 2nd grader and photography. I basically gave him the camera with a fairly small memory card, set the camera on on "P" or auto, showed him how to tell how many pictures he had left and told him to take pictures of things that were important. Then when his memory card was full we downloaded them to the computer and talked about his choices. The results were quite interesting.

Hmmm ... I like that too, except I'd say "Take pictures of things that are interesting," guessing that the results would be important ... :-)
01/26/2009 04:06:25 PM · #7
Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by Spazmo99:

Hmmmmm.

I did some things with my 2nd grader and photography. I basically gave him the camera with a fairly small memory card, set the camera on on "P" or auto, showed him how to tell how many pictures he had left and told him to take pictures of things that were important. Then when his memory card was full we downloaded them to the computer and talked about his choices. The results were quite interesting.

Hmmm ... I like that too, except I'd say "Take pictures of things that are interesting," guessing that the results would be important ... :-)


Well, to a 7 year old, if it's important, it's interesting and vice versa.
01/26/2009 04:08:21 PM · #8
Originally posted by Spazmo99:

Well, to a 7 year old, if it's important, it's interesting and vice versa.

Absolutely.
01/26/2009 04:10:01 PM · #9
This should provide some ideas.

Adobe's Digital School Collection Teacher Resources

Making a pinhole camera is a good way for a student to understand how an image is produced.

Making a Digital Pinhole Camera

Message edited by author 2009-01-26 16:13:40.
01/26/2009 04:23:11 PM · #10
photo themes by a middle school teacher
This site offers some nice ideas. I used this for my 5th graders (with some additions) and they made a PowerPoint Presentation to showcase their work. They created a slide describing the kind of photo we talked about in class and that was followed by 3 examples of photos they took. The project is always a hit and I end up printing in full color and binding it as a book.
01/26/2009 04:43:53 PM · #11
My only advice would be to remember you hope to instill in them love and appreciation for photography, so keep it fun. My nephew (a little older than these kids, but still in school) was excited about taking a photography class, but by the end of it he had been turned off completely.
01/26/2009 04:45:28 PM · #12
This caught my eye a couple of days ago.... thought the concept was interesting and a super secret spy mission type of theme would go over great with at least the boys.....

Edit: Would help if I added a link hey... Linkie

Message edited by author 2009-01-26 16:45:56.
01/26/2009 04:49:50 PM · #13
Wow, thanks for all the quick help. They will have a weekly assignment based on the topic we covered in class. They will have to E-mail me the picture and I will print them before the next class.

I forgot about the pinhole camera we might try that. I am working on a budget so we will see if it works out.

We are going to learn the basic technical stuff but a majority of the class with be on the creative and fun side of photography. There will be no editting just strait from the camera. I am trying to keep it simple but interesting enough to keep there attention.

I will change things as I go if they show a interest in one area over another.

Thanks for all the links I am going to check them out now.
01/26/2009 04:52:02 PM · #14
Originally posted by robs:

This caught my eye a couple of days ago.... thought the concept was interesting and a super secret spy mission type of theme would go over great with at least the boys.....

Edit: Would help if I added a link hey... Linkie


Perfect, Week 3 I planned on doing Creative angles in Photography and our in class project was to try and recreate a photo of a person holding a mini person. Just like the one pictured on that page. That will make a great example. I love the Bugs eye veiw idea.
01/26/2009 05:52:54 PM · #15
photograms are always cool, and a way to break them out of always thinking "digital". And "camera".
08/25/2013 06:47:02 PM · #16
I know this is an old post, but I am doing the same thing for our homeschool co-op this year. I was curious how your experience went. Have any insight you would like to share? LOL I plan on going through the basic functions of their P & S cameras, showing a brief video on the history of photography and doing sunprints and pinhole cameras. I will also briefly explain exposure and base the rest of the lessons on composition, elements of art and design, and different types of photography (portrait, landscape, architecture, etc.) And editing using Picasa. I'm not sure what to do as a final project. I am teaching 9 students that are all 10-12 years old. I am hoping I don't miss anything or make it too boring as I've NEVER done this before.
08/25/2013 07:15:08 PM · #17
As the originator of this thread does not appear to be actively involved here any more maybe you should PM her or contact her via her email link. I'd be interested to see how her program went too. Maybe she'll revisit and share her experiences. Good luck with your own project and I'd love to see results of this as well.
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