Photo-Writing: A Day in the Life of . . .
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Photography inspires kids – heck, it inspires me, too! Get your child involved in a photo writing prompt idea. Give her a camera, and the idea to document a day in the life of her favorite toy.
Last weekend, I helped 6-year old JJ with her “A Day in the Life of Bunny the Rock Star” photo-writing project.
Photo Writing Prompt
A Day in the Life of [Your Favorite Stuffed Animal]
CHOOSE YOUR TOY
Pick a stuffed animal or toy to be the star of your story.
BRAINSTORM
Think of all the things your stuffed animal does throughout the day. Start in the morning, then move through the day. Ask your child guiding questions like, “Is your Bunny a kid or a grown-up? Does she have a job?” That will give you ideas for the photographs and writing.
PHOTOGRAPH
Take lots of photographs. Set up photo opportunities and practice shooting from different perspectives and zoom lengths. Go on field trips and take photos at different locations.
WRITE
Print out the best photos and glue them into a blank book. (We used BareBooks.) Use the photos as prompts to write the story that goes with each photo.
SHARE
Share with friends and family!!
Day in the Life Ideas
(photos by JJ)
Eating lunch.
Looking for cupcakes.
Shopping.
More shopping.
Relaxing.
Bed-time.
Final Thoughts
What I loved the most about this photo writing prompt was the fun that JJ and I had together. It gave us purposeful, meaningful bonding time!
Don’t you think there are a lot of ways to modify the photo-writing to fit your child’s interests?
You might like this post, Looking For Signs of Spring With Cameras.
Or what about doing a class photography project?
For classroom ideas, visit my friend, Katie Hyde with Literacy Through Photography at Duke and her Literacy Through Photography blog. Or see how Houston creates a FotoFest for their Literacy Through Photography program in schools.
It’s amazing to see how photographs can inspire so much creative thinking and writing — in any setting or country!
Have your kids used photography to write before?
I really like this idea. I might use this to help with a dummy for a PB idea. Otherwise, I’ll save it for my son when he gets ready to take pictures.
Adorable and creative idea! Love it!
Hi Melissa…I can relate to this post…My daughter has a teddy bear too and she always have it even to bed…
Oh my – how timely! I just wrote a blog entry about this! My 8 year old is in the process of writing her next book, and is photographing her stuffed animals for the illustrations. Here’s the post, with plenty of her pictures. http://gwynridenhour.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/update-on-evas-forthcoming-book/
Your book is coming out when???? Thanks for the link – I’m going now . . .
My girls would totally love this activity! Stuffed animals and cameras are perfect partners. 🙂
Before Christmas, my girls took photos of their favorite ornaments and wrote little captions about what makes each ornament special. Very fun and a great memory, too.
oh, I love that idea, Amy!