Four Year Old Photographer Games

My lovely and active four year old told me she was bored today.  She always wants Mama to play pretend games.  There's nothing worse than playing pretend with a four year old. I'll do board games. I'll do arts and crafts.  I'll sit and do Barbie's hair. 

I cannot play pretend.  "I'll be the princess and you'll be the teacher and Durham will be the alligator!"  Ugh.  It lasts for maybe 30 seconds before I'm completely spent of imaginative energy. 

So when she came to me asking again to play pretend today, I had to come up with something else to distract her. My solution? The Photographer Game.

I taught her how to take pictures with my phone and told her to take as many as she wanted. I explained what a photographer was and how they work. We talked about props, focus, angle, and subject matter. I then let her loose upon the house. What follows is the fruits of her labor.

 

She learned that babies aren't always cooperative.

We discussed photographing non-human subject matter.  This was her first choice. 

Just another sibling refusing to cooperate and smile pretty for the camera.

She then went to her most trusted buddies. 

A nice shot of the laundry.

Picture of pictures?  Very fancy. 

That darn finger crept in on this one. 

Mid diaper change shot. 

She's getting a little abstract here. 

Toaster. 

I love how she incorporated a hair accessory for Nixon on this one. 

 

Sleepy sister. 

She spent nearly an hour walking around the house, setting up shots and deciding if the shot she took was acceptable.  It was an hour of near freedom for Mommy and sheer delight for a four year old.