Short description of the topic
A great way to learn about different professions is to visit the professionals! You can make such an event even more memorable by incorporating photographic activities.
Learning outcomes
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Competencies
- Digital and media competence: basic knowledge of using the camera and working on a computer
- Social competences: getting to know other people and connecting with others
- Linguistic competences: expansion of vocabulary, adoption of the new language concepts
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Target group
4 years and up- Whole class
Individual work
- Whole class
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Required materials
- Camera
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Materials
- What does a … do? (Template for connecting professions with their work-place)
Download
(.pdf 335.94 KB)
Description of the activity (step by step)
Preparation:
Arrange a visit to the local photography studio. Talk about different places in town, e.g. the post office, school, fire station. Ask children if they know what a photography studio is. Try to find out what it is together: “What is a photography studio?” “Was anyone ever at a photography studio?” “What do they do there?” Children tell their ideas and express their knowledge about the topic. Let them know that there is a photography studio near the kindergarten and that they are going to visit it.
Implementation:
Invite children to observe the photographic studio from the outside. Is there a window exhibition? What else is there in the shop-window? Is there a specific sign which informs passers-by what is inside? Meet the photographer. Ask her or him to greet the children and tell them what they do in the studio. Let the children look around the room independently. Observe the display of photos of different sizes, photo frames, photo albums, photo books, etc. Pass around the camera and let the children take pictures. Together, take a look at the space for individual or group/family photography where they keep different photographic equipment and items, such as lights, photo appliances, background motives, toys for animating children and thematic photographing. Lastly, the photographer shows the children how a digital picture is created. Children observe the entire process from inserting the SD card from the camera to the digital reader in the computer, the download of the photo from the SD card to the computer, and then from the computer to the printer which then prints the photo in various sizes and makes as many or as few copies as we like.
Reflection:
Invite children to talk about the visit. Let them describe what they observed, the items, and the equipment that they saw and what they liked the most. Choose a selection of the photographs that the children took. Save them in an album where you can gather photos from visits to different institutions.
Variations and additional ideas
Visit different shops and institutions near the kindergarten (post office, bakery, car-shop, etc.) and take photos. Fill your dedicated photo album and make it available to children in the kindergartens photo-center. You could organize an exhibition at the end of the year and invite other kindergarten groups or parents. The children can create a photographic studio in their playroom for pretend play. You can find complementary activities here: Portrait studio (https://media.eduskills.plus/activities/famous%2Fstudio)
Background information and didactical perspective
Planned visits to get acquainted with a certain occupation are useful for children in many ways. They enable them direct experience, better understanding, deepening of knowledge, stimulate interest, and support the acquisition of new knowledge.
Experience from kindergartens:
A visit to the photography workshop was a very special and unique experience for our children. The photographer explained the process of creating digital photography simply and the children had the opportunity to observe the process live.
Materials
Photos of the activity
