Photo frenzy!

One day I was taking photos of the children for learning stories. We also have a digital photo frame which has new photos loaded onto it every day. The float teacher is the one who has the responsibility of going around and taking photos of children and the different activities that happen throughout the day. Later that afternoon, I saw a couple of girls walking around with the children’s cameras taking photos of other children. Repeating what I had been saying which was “smile,” “look at me”. When they took the photos, they turned then pretended to look at the screen on the camera.
I thought that this might have just been a one off, but later on that day the girls were still taking pretend photos of each other.
As I walked over to the G yelled out “Steph, can you take a photo of us?”
I replied “yeah sure”.
G: “But you have to wait till F comes coz shes our friend too”.
“Ok” I replied.
“1,2,3, say cheese!” I said.
“CHEESE!!” they all replied.
Then as I took the photo they all posed and held up peace signs with their fingers.
“why did you guys do that sign?”
G: “because that is what my sister does”.
I thought it was really cool and interesting how much information young children take in from all around them, sometimes things that you wouldn’t expect them to repeat or notice.
Later on that day I thought it would be a cool idea to get out my own digital camera, so that the children could take real photos. They all loved this idea, and spent a good hour taking photos of each other. I later printed the photos off for the girls and put them into their portfolios after they had looked at them.
Recognised learning:
The children were mimicking what I had been doing earlier and what they had obviously seen their families or brothers and sisters doing. The girls learnt other skills such as sharing and turn taking, theyv also gained the opportunity to work with and alongside others, Te Whariki supports this by saying that children need to be encouraged to learn with and alongside others (Ministry of Education, 1996). The children had a great time taking photos with the pretend camera and the digital camera. The girls camera knowledge and operational skills were extended. They showed that they had a great interest and were very curious about cameras and the way that the cameras worked. I think that by letting the children use the digital camera, they felt a sense of responsibility and were able to extend their knowledge. . Thouvenelle, Borunda, and McDowell (1994) argue that children need to develop their own perspectives, knowledge and skills to participate in the world. The children gained confidence in ICT, which increases the child’s self esteem and autonomy (Liu, 1996).