Last year we gave our girls (ages four and five) some kid-friendly digital cameras. My girls love to take pictures with their small cameras and almost every hike, trip to the wildlife park and almost every new place we visit.
My daughters’ small cameras store about 800 pictures before being transferred or deleted from the computer. Their cameras were full after the Sunday hike and I had to transfer some pictures to my laptop so they could take more pictures when we went to the zoo.
While looking at the 800 pictures they took, it seemed to me that they valued their camera for us as parents to get some insight into how our children see nature and what they find interesting. In addition to partially lens-covered fingerprints and blurred foot shots, there were lots of rock pictures that they found interesting, close-ups of flower petals, pictures of worms and bugs, and some pictures of our dog.
Now that their cameras have more storage space, we’ve moved to the zoo. I can’t wait to see the pictures they took there! More importantly, I can’t wait to talk to them about the pictures they took and why they took them. My guess is you can say we are starting to dive into the world of digital storytelling.