Feature: Photo Projects for Kids

Adults aren't the only ones who love photography; children seem to have an innate love of picture taking as well. If you need proof, just give a kid a disposable camera and watch their eyes light up! And I know that it was my dad's generosity with his camera that stimulated my life-long love of photography.

These days, there are quite a number of digital cameras that are cheap enough for the younger set. But sometimes children need a few fresh ideas to keep taking pictures. This week, I've got a few suggestions for photo projects that the younger set might enjoy. I've used them in my own family, but they could be used in the classroom, at summer camps, or anywhere else kids congregate.

Conduct a Mystery Photo Contest

When they first get access to a camera, it seems like kids never run out of cool things to take pictures of. But after a while, the thrill wears off and they stop taking pictures of everything that moves. So when the kids in your life need some inspiration, suggest that they conduct a Mystery Photo Contest. If they're so inclined, it could become a weekly event.

What is a Mystery Photo Contest, you ask? Picture something like this. What is it? Well, that's what the contest is all about.

Armed with a camera, task the kids with sniffing out ordinary objects. When taken close-up, many common things take on weird, unusual, and otherworldly appearances--especially if they're shown upside down or at an unexpected angle. If you don't want to entrust the kids with an expensive digital camera, you've got options. If you have a scanner, you can send them off to shoot pictures with a cheap disposable camera, then scan the pictures into your PC.

Once the pictures are on the PC, kids can make a game of letting others guess the subject in each picture as they're shown on-screen as a slide show. Make this as simple or elaborate as you like--I've even seen it done as a multiple choice quiz.

By the way, the previous photo is the tip from a container of white glue. Did you guess it? Perhaps you're ready to be a contestant in your next Mystery Photo Contest.

Make a Photo Jigsaw Puzzle

When is a digital photo also a game the whole group can play? When it's a jigsaw puzzle.

If you're looking for a new and unique activity for a bunch of kids, consider turning pictures they've taken into jigsaw puzzles, which you can then solve together or give to the kids to solve on their own. You can make pictures into real, live puzzles by gluing a photo print onto a piece of cardboard (the thicker the better), and then carefully cutting it into curved pieces.

If you're not handy with glue and scissors, you can solve your puzzles on the computer screen. In the past, I've written about computer games that let you turn your digital photos into puzzles. For instance, BrainsBreaker is a game that lets you create jigsaw puzzles out of any picture on your computer.

The program's $20, and you can download a free trial from PC World.

Make a Photo Journal

There's a little reporter in every child, or so it seems. Making a Photo Journal helps develop this aspect of their intellect. Here's how it works.

In the Family: Each child picks one day in the week to carry a digital camera around and snap pictures of anything that they find interesting. There's just one rule: Take pictures. Lots of pictures.

When the camera comes home at the end of the day, your child transfers the pictures to the PC, then organizes the images into a journal, complete with captions for each picture. (You may need to help with this, depending on the child's age.) You can keep these journals on the PC--in a program like Microsoft PowerPoint, for instance--or print them and bind them into homemade books.

There's an added benefit to the Photo Journal: Not only is it fun, but you get glimpses into your children's day that you can keep and look back on for years to come.

In the Classroom: The idea is the same here, except that every child gets a chance to document "a day in the life" of their class. One or more children is designated "Reporter of the Day." The Reporter's job is to take pictures of everything their class does during a typical day. The resulting pictures are loaded into a computer program, given captions, and turned into a journal for all the students to enjoy. This is of course needs to be adapted to your classroom's particular situation, but you get the idea.