This post is sponsored by 4-H
With improvements in smartphone technology and the cameras inside them, it’s easier than ever for tweens and teens to be photographers. However, a great image is measured by more than how many friends you can cram into the frame of your selfie. Parents with budding photographers can make screen time productive by harnessing their creativity and teaching them essential digital photography skills thanks to .
4-H Photography Curriculum is perfect for kids in grades 5-12 who want to use their smartphone or camera to take their photography game to the next level. Newly updated to reflect technological advances related to cameras, cell phones, and file sharing, the curriculum includes topics that are relevant to today’s tweens and teens such as photo editing with apps, taking selfies, and online storage.
How 4-H Digital Photography Curriculum Teaches Tweens & Teens to Take Better Pictures
Here are 6 reasons to let your kids learn digital photography basics with the help of 4-H’s best-selling Photography Curriculum so they can share their perspective on the world.
Age Appropriate Learning Tied to National Education Standards
With a long history of inspiring kids to do, 4-H’s photography curriculum teaches important lifelong skills to tweens and teens in age appropriate ways. Correlated to National Visual Arts Education Standards, the three-part photography curriculum can be done individually or as a series. The first book starts with the basics and subsequent books build on the knowledge and skills learned from previous ones. Here’s a look at what each of the three photography workbooks from 4-H cover:
- Level 1, Photography Basics— This beginning-level book starts with the basics such as getting to know your camera, regardless if it’s a smartphone or DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera). The book progresses in a logical manner for beginners to covers equipment, lighting, composition, and skill building through exercises done with the help of an adult. Additional topics include flash, black & white photography, and taking selfies!
- Level 2, Next Level Photography— Designed to follow Book 1, this intermediate level book builds on the four main areas from Level 1 and includes the Rule of Thirds, Selecting a Lens, and Panorama. Tweens and teens also spend time deciding how and where to store photos taken during the project.
- Level 3, Mastering Photography— As the final book in the three-part series, Level 3 is also an advanced level book for serious study of photography. Activities build on the four main areas from Levels 1 and 2 and include topics such as smartphone exposure tips, low light challenges, and Studio Portraits.
Easy to Read
The easy to read books are designed to be used by kids. Laid out like a workbook, each of the three 4-H photography curriculum books are meaty in their subject matter but not overwhelming for tweens and teens thanks to graphics, photography examples, and graphic organizers that help this age group think more about what they’re learning through meaningful reflection.
Engaging, Interactive and Hands-On
Photography is a hands-on field and 4-H’s curriculum requires tweens and teens to practice what they’re reading and seeing in the workbook by going out and taking photos with a camera phone or DSLR. The abundant visuals throughout the three books serve as helpful examples that inform and reinforce learning in the field. Tweens and teens will be on the lookout for the gray Photo Shoot boxes in the books that provide practice to trying what they’ve learned through photo challenges.
Self-Paced
Each of the three workbooks are self-paced. They can be done as standalones or combined since topics covered build on concepts covered in the previous book. Even though the first book recommends having a parent, relative, family friend, or other knowledgeable adult serve as the “project helper” to create and a carry out a project plan, provide support and feedback, and debrief, most of the activities can be done at a personal pace with occasional check-ins with adults.
Creates Conversations about Technology
Even though there’s a lot of negativity around the amount of time today’s tweens and teens are spending on screens, is a positive use of technology that teaches lifelong skills and creates conversations about today’s tech tools between parents, kids and other trusted adults.
Affordable
Priced at $9.95/book or $25.95 for the three-part series, 4-H Photography Curriculum serves as an affordable way families can support their tween and teen’s interest in the visual arts and help them take their photography to the next level.
is available to purchase online through the Shop 4-H website. Each of the 3 books (Photography Level 1, Photography Level 2, and Photography Level 3) can be purchased individually for $9.95 each or as a bundle for $25.95 for the three-part series. Browse other hands-on learning activities at Shop4-H.org.
4-H compensated me and provided me with a set of their Photography Curriculum for the purposes of this post but all opinions are my own.
