Cheese!I put the batteries back into our Fisher Price Kid Tough camera yesterday. Honestly, I can't remember why I took them out....the camera doesn't make any obnoxious noises, or have any bright flashing lights (2 of my top reasons for removing the batteries from a toy). The kids still play with it without the batteries, and they play with it often, I might add. I'm sure that has something to do with them copying the behavior of their OCD parents who are constantly taking pictures of them ;) But I digress....
After I put the batteries back in, both kids took turns (!) roaming around the house taking pictures, while I occupied myself in the kitchen. Afterwards we downloaded them onto the computer and watched ourselves a little slide show. I won't torture you with all of the photos, honestly I got a little sea-sick myself when they were coming up on the computer. But here are a few which illustrate what I've been mulling over for the past few weeks.
The first one was taken by Baby Bird:
And these 2 by Big Bird:
I am endlessly fascinated by how the creative process is unfolding in my children. I strive to keep all the "art" type activities that go on in this house open-ended, that is to say, with no particular desired outcome in mind. I really believe that if you put boundaries or expectations on what your kids are creating, they will fairly quickly come to feel like they are failing in some way if their creation doesn't end up looking a particular way.
Watching the photo slideshow with the kids gave me new insight into their creative mind. I noticed that they both chose to take pictures of things that are important to them. This is exactly what I tend to take pictures of too. Big Bird took a picture of his basket of trucks and his new tractor, and also a picture of Baby Bird and me (apparently though, our heads are not important!) And although I only included one, Baby Bird took a whole montage of pictures of her beloved duck, well, his feet mostly ;)
Something else that I thought was interesting is that they also took some time arranging favorite toys just so, for portrait style pictures:
I will definitely be putting the batteries back into their camera more often now. It's yet another great creative outlet for them, that has no boundaries or expected outcomes.One of my favorite blogs is the The Artful Parent. It is filled with beautiful, inspiring photos, ideas and interviews which constantly motivate me to keep opening up the craft cupboard, even when I don't think I can stand cleaning up after one more painting spree.
Check it out....and see if you don't find yourself pulling out your camera or maybe even the finger paints :)
4 comments:
Wow, your baby birds are so creative! I love your blog by the way. Tell Gabe he did a great job with it. :)
It's so neat to see your kiddos pictures! They are amazing - their little brains and hearts working away in the ways that make them so happy. Miss you guys!
I used to have (and probably still have somewhere) a simple to use point and shoot 35mm camera. I would put batteries but no film in it and take it into my classroom when I worked in daycare. I'd let the kids play with it, figure out how to work it for a week or so and then I would put film in it to see what they would come up with. Their photos were always so interesting!!
I should show my daughter how to use the old digital, to see what she does. Cam's pics are always really cool to see too.
Robyn, I'm really enjoying your blog. I'd been thinking about getting The Boy a camera--he seems to be fascinated with ours. But the price rather put me off! Maybe I can find a used one on kijiji or something. Anyway, it's great to be able to keep up with you and the kids this way.
I forgot all about that camera. I still have a couple of Big Bird's photos downloaded onto my computer from last year. I love when they come up on the slideshow. I'm going to ask the grandparents for a camera for my Miss' birthday!
BTW, the knitted critters just kill me! I can't wait to make them!! Hugs!
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