How could you use a digital camera in an early years setting? Veronica Carter counts the ways, as she awaits delivery to her school's reception class
I have just ordered a digital camera for use in my reception class. At a mere 50 it is sure to have its limitations, but I am more interested in investigating its potential. Just what could a digital camera do for me and the children?
An instant record: memorable moments are always worth recording with a photograph, but imagine being able instantly to hook the camera up to the computer and see that picture! Better yet, how about sending a copy of that picture home to the family either as an e-mail attachment or by printing it out?
With no costs involved in shooting the pictures, the children can experiment with taking pictures themselves to their hearts' content, deciding for themselves what constitutes a 'memorable moment'.
Such photographs would make a good basis for a portfolio of work or for showing parents how we work. They can also be useful in the different work areas to show what might be done there. How about a photograph in the art area showing one child helping another to put on their apron, or one in the graphics area of a child making a greeting card?
In the construction area, photographs could be used to give inspiration as to what might be built - a picture of a garden centre trolley or a local bridge. Photographs of local buildings could be used to inspire some junk modelling.
Pictures could convey a sense of time and place, by, for example, making a 'time line' of a typical day. You could plant some seeds and make a photographic diary of their growth, or photograph the playground at different times of the year so as to show the seasons. Work in progress over time at a local building site is another possible subject.
To help new children feel familiar with your classroom you could take photographs of different areas around your setting, inside and out, which could form the basis of a picture hunt. Familiar objects from around the setting could also be photographed from above and from a more normal viewpoint, to make a matching game as a way of introducing the idea of plan view.
In supporting creative work, photographs of the children could be used to enhance the painting of self-portraits as well as having a mirror to hand, or you could get the children to photograph flowers or a particular view to inspire their artwork!
If you take a set of photographs of the children, you could add each child's picture to any computer work that is to be printed out, or stick them on to the front of a child's book, or next to their work when it is on display.
