Getting the kids involved with photography
during the holidays is a great way to add meaning to the season. By
establishing some fun, new traditions or organizing events centered
around photography, you can give your kids something more than gifts
to look forward to as the holidays roll around every year.
Take an annual photo
Each year, on the first day of winter,
usually December 21st, take your child's picture in front of a landmark
near your home (a big tree, a familiar building) or in front of your
home itself. Keeping this series of photos in a single album or flipbook
is a wonderful way to keep track of changes that are too subtle to
observe in the course of day-to-day life. Get
tips for taking pictures in the snow.
This project can be a fun way to work
on counting with your preschooler or more abstract ideas with older
kids. For each of the twelve days of Christmas, eight days of Chanukah,
or seven days of Kwanzaa, give your child a topic to photograph.
For example on the third day of the holiday, ask your child to take
three photos that say something to her about the spirit of giving.
Print them out right away and affix them to a big piece of poster
board, starting with "one" at the top, down to the highest number
forming a row at the bottom.
The magic of numbers and the themes of the season can come to life
for your child all at once!
Under the tree is too easy! Make everyone
work for those gifts, all while having a memorable time. For kids
who can't yet read (or even those who can), give photo clues for a
scavenger hunt. Try taking close-ups of a pet's fur, a child's pillow
or doll, the kitchen counter or whatever you choose. Let each photo
clue lead to the next (have the picture of the child's doll waiting
to be found by the pet's bed, for example).
After your child has found all the clues, have a prize waiting wherever
the last clue has led her. Her biggest holiday gift or a framed photo
of something important to her (the entire family, a favorite toy,
herself) makes a wonderful reward.
The presents are opened and everyone is
full. Now what? Make a stack of 4" x 6" family photos, vacation photos,
landscape photos, or best of all, a mix of these.
Have each person take turns drawing three photos from the pile and
laying them out on a flat surface in the order in which they were
drawn. The first picture will be the subject of the beginning of a
story; the second picture, the middle; and the third will be the ending.
Using a stopwatch or timer, give each person one minute to weave the
three photos into a tale, tall or otherwise. Watch the memories and
the laughs start to flow!
At HP's
Activity Center, kids can easily make holiday cards for their
friends and family, either with their own photos or family favorites.
With these cards, kids can start creating their own holiday spirit! Snapfish,
HP's simple online photo sharing site, offers even more options for
creating fun, personalized photo
greeting cards.
For a simple holiday centerpiece, purchase
a photo tree at a gift or photo frame store, and fill it with photos
your children have taken and/or photos you have taken of your children.
This decoration will provide the grown-ups with a great conversation-starter
with the kids, beyond asking what grade they're in—again!
Landscape-oriented, wallet-size photos
happen to share dimensions with tent-shaped, card stock table setting
place cards (3 ½" x 2 ½"). For your holiday gathering, instead of
writing people's names on their place cards, affix a wallet-sized
photo of each guest at a much younger age. Kids will love seeing what
the grown-ups looked like in a former age, and it's a great way to
give your holiday gathering a sense of history.
A scanner will enable you to use pictures from a time before
there were digital cameras.
Try inexpensive frames instead of paper place cards for your
3 ½" x 2 ½" photos. Your guests will appreciate the souvenirs!
If you like the idea of a keepsake of
the season that tells a story, you can make a scrapbook that records
your family's tale over time. Every year, ask members of your family
to bring a few photos of highlights of the previous year to include.
In the book, write a few questions that every family member, including
the kids, can answer every year. For example, "What was the funniest
moment of this year's Christmas?" or "What was the best gift you received
for Hanukkah this year?" The questions can be as factual or as funny
as you choose.
While it might take a little organization and cajoling to get each
person to participate, everyone will be grateful to have such a wonderful
document of your family's history.
This year, include your printer in the
holiday fun. With HP's
newest compact photo printers getting your photos out of your
camera and into your hands is a blast for you and your kids! With
newer models you can add captions to photos with either a stylus or
the printer's touchscreen keyboard. Built-in borders and graphics
make designing your own greeting cards and scrapbook pages a snap.
No PC required!
