Travel is tricky, and there are reasons to love and hate it. For a family traveling with the little ones, it takes a lot of planning and patience. However, the downside of travel makes it worth it because you get to create lasting memories and explore different cities, landmarks, cultures, and cuisines. Traveling also brings you joy. However, it is trickier for kids to have fun while traveling. So, why not create fun travel photography projects for kids?
We have a little girl who both loves and hates it when we travel, but traveling provides her with great opportunities to explore and learn, especially through the lens of a camera. For some reason, when my daughter has her camera on hand when we are traveling, she pays more attention to her surroundings, searches for the little details, and asks questions.
If you’re having trouble getting your kids interested in the places you’re visiting, some fun travel photography projects are an easy way to engage them, have fun, and capture memories from their travels.
All you need is a camera phone or a children’s digital camera to easily set up some fun travel photography projects for kids. These can be done before, during, or after a trip with the family. From scavenger hunts to themed private social accounts, I’m confident some of these travel photography ideas and projects will keep your young ones entertained while capturing lasting memories everywhere they go!
How to Do a Photography Project for Kids
When you are planning your next family vacation, one of the first steps you probably do is to research places to visit that are kid-friendly. For example, we will soon visit Scotland with our daughter, but we also want to explore Edinburgh Castle along with some other landmarks and monuments in the city.
I found that the best way to engage my kid’s interest in a particular location is to introduce a travel book for kids that is location specific. In this case, we went with This is Edinburgh by Miroslav Sasek and Edinburgh Castle for Kids. Not only will she learn about the city before we get there but she will recognize the locations when we visit in person. Plus, she can do her personal research to develop her travel photography project or ideas. To help you get started, here are eight fun travel photography projects for kids you can help your little one choose from.
8 Fun Travel Photography Projects for Kids
Go on a Photo Scavenger Hunt
You can create a theme for a photo scavenger hunt for the day and challenge your kids to capture a certain amount of images that fit the theme. For example, you can challenge them to find a specific color, texture, or shape in the places you explore and capture a photo.
It makes it fun for the kids to search for items and keeps them moving and enthusiastic while avoiding the dreaded boredom that sometimes pops in.
Create an Adventure Photo Collage
Going on family adventures is fun, you can go hiking, water rafting, canoeing, kayaking, or camping. The whole family can take photos, so you can have many images from different angles, perspectives, and subjects from your trip. At home, have your kids create a collage with them.
Kids can cut out different shapes and add embellishments to the photos to get a creative touch. Another option is to use Canva. It is a great resource for parents and kids to create fun and artistic photo collages before printing to display at home.
Keep an Ongoing Travel Diary
One of my daughter’s favorite things to do is to keep a diary, so when I gave her the idea of creating a travel diary, she was all for it. For our upcoming Scotland trip, I got her a travel journal she can use to document each day.
You can do something similar and ask your kids to take pictures of their experiences along the way, then have them write stories about each photo in a travel diary.
Make a Themed Photo Social Media Account
Similar to the adventure photo collage, this one is a bit more digital. Parents and kids can take pictures of family members during a trip and put them together on a private social media account to share with extended family and friends.
However, make it a theme that you can grow as the family travels to different places over the years. For example, the account could be about exotic places, favorite selfies with landmarks or monuments, or imitating the postures of famous paintings or sculptures.
Create Artistic Shots
For kids who are a bit older, you can challenge them to find interesting angles and perspectives when taking photos. You can take it a step further and have them see how professional photographers capture certain scenes they can use as inspiration for their shots.
Explore Local Spots
When you think of travel, you probably are thinking about road trips, airplane travel, or even a cruise, but you can also stay local and explore your city. For summer break projects, parents and kids can brainstorm creative travel photography ideas and ways for kids to capture their surroundings. It can be taking photos at a nearby park or beach, flowers in the backyard, or animals at the local zoo.
Create a Scrapbook of your Travels
Scrapbooking can be a fun activity for kids to do. They get to pick the travel theme and album size, create a layout, and they can include photos, tickets, postcards, and other memorabilia from their favorite locations or activities they did. It’s a fun way to keep kids entertained and they would love showing off their hard work to their extended family and friends.
Explore the Landmarks and History
Another fun travel photography project for kids is to challenge them to take pictures of landmarks using different angles, and then have them dig up some juicy history on each one.
Not only will they improve their composition skills and use their body to capture different angles, but they’ll also learn more about the places they visit.
Making Travel Fun for Kids
Going on a family vacation is a great way to make lasting memories with your little ones. But let’s face it, as parents, we know it is a challenge to keep our kids entertained and engaged for the whole trip.
That’s where these fun travel photography projects for kids come in. Trust me, handing them a camera phone or a kid’s digital camera will be a game-changer during your trip! Plus, you’d be surprised at the kind of incredible shots your kids can snap while creating lasting memories along the way.
So don’t forget to hand them a camera — you never know what kind of incredible photos they may capture!
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Pinned this one for reference. such a great idea.
Great ideas 👍
Really great ideas throughout the piece! I quite enjoyed reading this, gives me ideas for when either I have kids or someone close to me does
This is so fun! My boys would love these ideas and I am saving this! Thank you for sharing!
I don’t have kids but maybe with my family and my little brother. Thank you for this wonderful guide!
These are such lovely project for kids. It’s surprising how young little ones get into photography!
These are such great ideas! Scrapbooks are such a great idea for kids to complete after a trip and I love that it acts as a keepsake for years to come. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome ideas for kids!
Fantastic ideas! Although, I would have to buy an actual camera instead of letting my son use his phone camera (to avoid temptation to bury his face in the phone for games)… but that would be well worth it. Love this!
We recently started taking along disposable, water-proof cameras on camping trips for our kiddos. And you are so right – they do seem to slow down and focus more on their surroundings with a camera in hand! I love your ideas to do a photo scavenger hunt and adventure collage. Definitely going to give these fun challenges a try during our summer hikes and explorations!