My 7-year-old has been scrapbooking since she was a preschooler. She started by helping me place stickers on layouts. Eventually, she learned how to stamp, and then mastered the art of adhering mementos to the page. These days she designs her own memory albums using a variety of embellishments; however, she is still working on including her own photos on the layouts.
I am a huge advocate of getting kids involved in all aspects of scrapbooking, especially picture-taking. The boom in digital photography has made it much easier for children to snap scrapbook worthy shots without a ton of training. If you have a child who shows genuine interest in photography, teaching him or her how shots can be pieced together to tell a cohesive story in a scrapbook is a gift you can’t put a price tag on.
If your child is just starting out, keep things simple. Perhaps you could purchase your son or daughter an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera that’s easy to operate. Next, encourage your young shutterbug to flex his creative muscle. Keep in mind that a series of shots taken through a child’s eye will make for an interesting layout, regardless of the subject matter. Also, remember, if the child is taking photos to create a theme album, such as a Father’s Day scrapbook, all of the images he snaps will be cherished by the recipient, so flawless technique is not that important.
The most important idea to implement is freedom. Give your child the freedom to take the lead when gathering photos. While you can offer ideas, it’s best to give kids the opportunity to document the pictures they want to add to a scrapbook. If the memory album is being crafted as a gift to someone else, having your child’s perspective captured on film is just one more unique element that will be displayed on the pages.
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