Photography 101 for Kids: Teaching Kids How to Take Pictures
Photography was our first art unit of fifth grade. In a world of watercolors and oil pastels, that might seem like a strange place to start but it leaned into my kids’ natural interest in photography and our heavily science based curriculum.
As with most things, we taught photography in a variety of ways but focused on getting out of the house and practicing their photography skills in the real world. (You can read all about my philosophy on learning and teaching in Little Walks Big Adventures
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Photography 101 Essentials
You do not need a lot to teach basic photography. I recommend:
- Cameras ( my kids both have one of these cameras with a waterproof strap to hook on their wrists to limit dropping )
- Photography Journals or some other place to keep and share their photographs. We are using sketchbooks like this to paste their photos into because it will be their art journal for the whole year.
- Computer & Printer – to upload and print photos.
Photography Neighborhood Walk
Our first field trip was a walk around the neighborhood with our cameras.
Before you go:
- Go over basics of how to use your cameras. How to turn them on. How to take a picture. Go over any safety recommendations. For example, I encourage my kids to wear the wrist straps whenever they’re carrying their cameras to avoid lots of dropping.
- Talk about photography. Before we went on our Photo Walk, I had them go online and find a photo that they liked. Just one. It could be a photo of anything that interested them – buildings, flowers, animals. One photo that they found interesting. We printed it out, added it to their photo journals and then shared what they liked about the photo. This led to a conversation about some photography basics. In our case, light and perspective were both discussed. I kept this brief and basic, but we talked about how they photo might have been taken and why they liked the way the subject had been approached.
- When we went on our walk I brought these up again as they were taking photos by saying things like; I wonder how the light would change if you took a photo of that flower from a different angle? or I remember you liked the photo that was taken from a low perspective, have you tried taking a photograph of that tree from that same perspective? or I see you taking a picture of that flower, I wonder how many different interesting ways you could photograph that same flower?
Afterwards:
- We learned how to upload photos onto the computer.
- They reviewed the photos they took and chose a few favorites. Those were printed and then added to their art journals with a sentence about their photo.
Visit an Art Museum
- Visit an art gallery or photography museum.
The Getty Center in Los Angeles has a building devoted to photography. They also have a lesson plan for middle schoolers about photography. Here in San Diego, Balboa Park has the Museum of Photographic Arts.
We visited the Getty Center which is an amazing free art museum in LA. The architecture and garden is amazing. Make sure to set aside time to explore the garden. That was the part my kids loved best. I also highly recommend the kids scavenger hunts that are available next to the front desk.
There is also a full building devoted to photography which is where we focused our art viewing for this trip.
Ideas to Increase Engagement:
- Check online before you go to see what exhibits are currently showing. Take some time to learn a little more about the artists you’ll be seeing
- Use the info on their website to create a quick scavenger hunt for the photography section of the museum.
- Another option is to have your kids look around and then sketch their favorite photography in their art journal or write about they are inspired to try after viewing the photos.
The Getty
1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049, USA
Open 10a-5p Closed Mondays
Entrance is FREE but you must pay $20 to park and have a reserved timeslot to enter.
Website
Additional Resources for Learning about Photography with Kids
- Great American Artists for Kids
We are using this book all year to study different styles of art. It covers a range of art forms and artists throughout American history. Ansel Adams and Sandy Skoglund are the photographers included. Each chapter has a little about the featured artist and then an activity related to that artist’s work for your child to try. Buy Online - Combine Photography and Poetry with this Best Part of Me photography project.
