How To Turn Photography Into A Personalized Learning Opportunity With Your Kids

Here’s the promised second installment from the fabulous Beryl Young, creator of Momtographie*. (Find Part 1 here.)

A few weeks ago I was invited here to share ideas for turning one of my favorite hobbies, photography, into a personalized learning opportunity with your kids.

We broke down the process of choosing an objective and getting out the camera to go on a scavenger hunt and snap photos.

But the true magic happens in what you do with those photos once they’re taken.

The way we truly make leaning authentic for our kids is by tying an activity into a project with a purpose. Which is exactly what we’re going to talk about today.

If you haven’t yet chosen a project, I encourage you to start here. Once you’ve got those photos and are ready for the next steps, here are some of my favorite ways take it to the next level and showcase your photos once you’re done.

1) Transform them into something new

I absolutely LOVE teaching my adult photography students how to edit using the online based website PicMonkey.com. With many free features (and many more that unlock for a low annual fee) it’s my go to resource for moms looking to start off their photo editing easily.

(*Amanda Here: This is my go-to photo editing site too! Love it!)

But what amazes me even more is the way kids use this program when given the chance. PicMonkey not only allow for photo editing, but has several other creative graphic design uses as well. I’ve watch kids turn photos into comics, storyboard collages, and masterful art pieces.

It’s also my favorite starting place for my next project idea.

2) Design flash cards

Although I realize that flash cards are not always the best mode of teaching, I do feel that they serve value and purpose when used effectively, sparingly, and intentionally (for learning letter, sounds, or sight words for example).

Allowing your kids to design flash cards for themselves or for a younger sibling is also a powerful project. It’s less about the flash cards and more about the process your child goes through to create them.

If your children are old enough allow them to make the cards with your help, or you can DIY if you’re making them for a younger child. Start in PicMonkey with editing (due to the place where I plan to print, I crop the photos to square) and add any relevant text overlays on top of their image.

For our ABC card set I plan to get a set of square prints done at Artifact Uprising. The option to sent 25 different prints on recycled card stock is appealing to me and is the perfect number to cover each letter of the alphabet.

3) Create a book

If flash cards just aren’t you’re thing, think of ways you can create a themed book with your photos. Colors, farm animals, historic landmarks, etc…

You can start in PicMonkey and do photo editing if you wish. However if that is too time consuming or you just don’t want to take that time, you can start the book design process right away. Mpix.com does great quality work, is reasonably prices, has both hard cover and soft cover options, and is super easy to navigate and create with.

4) Write a story

For those of you with older children, you could see if they can write a story to go along with their photographs. Encourage them to use photos as illustrations for a book or let a single photo inspire an entire writing piece.

One editing technique I LOVE to encourage when children want to create photo illustrations is the Posterize effect in PicMonkey. It makes photos look like a painting so they ultimately appear to be a book illustration.

You can then take those illustrative photos and words and create a soft cover ‘children’s book’ using Mpix.com.

5) Hang them on the wall

If your photo scavenger hunt involved some sort of theme or family trip or outing you might want to hang the results on a wall somewhere in a special collage type of display.

Canvas pop is another resource that makes this easy and fun for you and/or your kids to create. Their photo collages are simple to use and their photo mosaics allow you to easily import photos from Instagram if that’s where they’re housed.

For the more budget conscious, you can still create awesome photo collages in PicMonkey.com and then print them on a home printer to hang on the wall or the fridge.

I hope these ideas get your wheels turning and help you and your kids learn to love photography as much as I do. If you’re one of the many moms out there who has a DSLR camera and is stuck in AUTO mode, I’d encourage you to check out my Momtographie Online class (Register HERE*) which is currently open for enrollment. In 6 weeks we’ll get you out of auto mode and ready to rock your camera with confidence. Happy snapping!

Amanda here again: I can’t tell you how excited I am for Beryl’s class! I’ve had a fancy schmancy camera for a few years now, and I’ll admit, I’m still on auto. Wah-wah. Sure, it takes better pictures than my old point and shoot, but I know it’s capable of so much more, and I’m determined to finally get it off auto and start getting the full value out of my camera. Beryl is not only extremely knowledgeable, but she’s so completely personable and fun! It’s sure to be a great course! Whether your goal is to take better pictures for your own family, your classroom, or something else, I hope you’ll join me in capturing the simple beauty in childhood! (Register for Momtographie HERE*! The Early Bird Sale lasts until May 18th!)

(*Momtographie Affiliate Link)