Toddlers Taking Pictures

Do you know of a good, toddler friendly, camera?  Now that Halloween is over and Christmas is just around the corner, I’m working on a wish list for what to give my two year old for Christmas.  Since we live in the age of camera phones, I’m always taking pictures of her, so she understands what pictures are.  And on a few occasions, she’s snatched my phone to take her own pictures.  Of course her pictures are not exactly quality work, but she enjoys it (as do I).  But I don’t feel comfortable lending her my phone to explore her visionary creations in photography on her own.  So I’m in search of the perfect toddler camera that takes good pictures, is durable, and easy to use.  I know there are a number of them on the market; therefore, if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear your experiences with them.

Now, you may ask why I am inquiring about a camera on a blog about nature.  Well, my daughter’s interest in taking pictures reminded me of an article (DeMarie, 2001) I read for my Master’s Thesis.  It was about an experiment to see how preschoolers viewed a visit to a zoo using disposable cameras.  Before the zoo trip, each child was interviewed to see how much exposure they’d had to the zoo and similar outings.  Then each was given a camera to use during a visit to a local zoo and instructed on how to use it.  They were told to take pictures of whatever they wanted.  The idea was that the children would take pictures of things that they found important or interesting to them as preschoolers.

The outcome was that the majority of the children took pictures of what was familiar to them, and not necessarily animals at the zoo.  Many of the preschoolers had little to no experience at a zoo; as a result, they took pictures of the sidewalk, clouds, chipmunks, and body parts of other children or animals.  One child, who had visited zoos the most (ten times) took significantly more pictures of zoo animals than the other children.  The conclusion the author drew was that for the majority of preschoolers, a trip to the zoo is somewhat of a wasted effort.  She concluded that preschoolers will get the same benefit from a walk around their school.  However, she does mention several caveats to her study such as the distance from of the school to the zoo making for a long field trip day, the subject for the preschoolers to learn was too broad, and cameras may not have been the best measure of what preschoolers learned.

As a non-formal educator who has worked in similar institutions, however, I didn’t (and still don’t) agree that the author’s conclusion was justified based upon the data presented.  Rather, I fixated on the fact that the zoo visit was not supplemented with an age appropriate, educational component presented by knowledgeable staff or even an enthusiastic parent.  In the study, the zoo was essentially just a generic setting, with no mention of any educators teaching the children about the animals at the zoo.  One child named several rules of how he should behave at the zoo as what he had learned, indicating the impact of conduct instruction.  None of the children mentioned any facts about the animals, making me question whether any information about the zoo animals was even discussed.  (In a future post, I will concentrate on the proper way to introduce zoo animals to a preschooler.)

Taking a child on these types of outings can be very important to continuing education of the natural world, and every child has to start somewhere.  I don’t believe there is an age that is too young.  Whether it’s a zoo, nature center, or aquarium, they all provide a safe place for young children to be introduced to and begin their love of the natural world.  Since many children are not able to go to these places for a variety of reasons, schools do a huge service to their communities by introducing children to wildlife through field trips to these institutions.  Yes, a lot can be learned by taking a walk around the block and that should be taught too; but when children visit a reputable wildlife institution, they learn, and each visit builds on the previous one.  These are places where the love of wildlife and nature begins.

In light of that, this study made me think it would be interesting to see what my daughter would take pictures of during one of our walks in nature.  In addition, I’m interested to see how her pictures will change as she learns and discovers more about the world around us.  If you have a children’s camera or are maybe thinking about getting one for your child, I’m sure I will post future pictures that my daughter takes for upcoming discussions, and invite you to post some of yours too.  I will keep you posted on my little, nature-loving photographer, and will continue to research camera options.

 

Reference

DeMarie, D., 2001. A trip to the zoo: children's words and photographs, Early Childhood Research & Practice, Spring 2001 3(1) [online] Champaign, Illinois [cited 11 Feb. 2005]. Available from World Wide Web: (http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/index.html)