How Disposable Cameras are Educational for Kids

Do you have a budding Annie Leibovitz or Ansel Adams on your hands? Kids love to take pictures, and disposable cameras can be a great learning tool for them.

While these kinds of cameras were quite popular in the 1980s and 90s, they lost their niche when cell phones gained popularity. However, in recent years they've been making a comeback, and one of the ways they've become more popular is with children.

Not only is taking photos a fun creative outlet for kids, but a disposable camera can also be quite educational. First of all, it helps teach responsibility. When given a disposable camera, a child has to be careful not to drop it or lose it.

Accidents can happen, and if a child should lose or break a cell phone, it can run hundreds, or in some cases, thousands of dollars to replace. Fortunately, the average cost for a disposable camera is only about $20, so if something happens to it, it won't be your financial demise.

When taking photos, children can learn critical thinking. What should they take photos of? Should they hold the camera vertically or horizontally? Is the light better in front of or behind them? How close or far should they be from an object to photograph it?

Do keep in mind that what we think could be interesting to photograph can be way different from what a child sees in their eyes. We might simply walk by a snail on the sidewalk and pass it by, while a child might find it a fascinating subject to photograph.

Kids are used to seeing people take selfies these days and may want to attempt to take some. Although disposable cameras are not made for selfies, kids can still have fun trying. The above is an example of that. Yes, it's blurry, and yes, only part of the face can be seen, but my son was very pleased with himself when his selfie was developed.

Disposable cameras can also help teach some basic math skills. Most disposable cameras come with 27 photos. Let's say you're on vacation for a week. If your child were to take photos every day, an average of 3-4 photos a day could be taken to have enough pictures for the entire vacation.

Knowing there is a limit on how many pictures can be taken, it gives the child a reason to think about what photos would be the most memorable to take and how many they should take each day to have enough to last.

Not only are these cameras great for family vacations, but also for day trips, birthday parties, and special events. You can also use them to play educational games. For example, give the child a camera and have them take one photo for every letter of the alphabet.

They could take a picture of an apple for A, a photo of a ball for B, a picture of a car for C, etc, etc. They can have the fun and creativity of taking photos, while working on their alphabet skills.

Now don't expect to get a roll of great-looking photos once the film is developed. While some may be good, other photos taken with disposable cameras can come out grainy and dark-looking, like the one above, which was taken by one of my kids. The idea isn't to get the perfect picture. It's the journey a child takes while taking the photographs.

However, sometimes your kids are able to capture some precious moments with their camera, like this one that was taken in Disneyland. Seeing their photos once they're developed can help boost a child's confidence as they can see how they took a concept and were able to visualize it in a picture.

Once developed, it's time to decide what to do with them. Should they go into a special photo box? Should some of them be framed? What about placing them in a photo album or making a scrapbook with them? Once again, a child is challenged with decision-making and creativity.

My kids absolutely loved being able to have their own cameras to take photos, and to this day, they still have their photos and the memories of what comes along with them.