This $34 Instant-Print Camera Inspires Endless Creativity in My Kids
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My 9-year-old and 7-year-old immediately bonded with another similar-age child at an art opening last year over her instant-print camera. Before they had even exchanged words, she had taken portraits of my children, printed them out, and handed them over as gifts: instant friendship. I ended up chatting with her mother, who happened to be one of the artists showing at the gallery that night, and she raved about this very affordable camera that she had found on Amazon, saying she felt it had changed the way her daughter was looking at the world.
I ordered two of them soon after, and that mother was right. My children love the cameras, which are easily in the top ten of their most-used possessions. They print out the pictures and tape them in their journals, and owning the cameras has led to other bursts of creativity, with my kids setting up scenes to photograph and adding color and stickers and art to the printouts and turning them into mini collages. (The camera also has built-in filters and backgrounds to create different effects in the prints, but neither of my kids uses those.)
The camera uses thermal printing instead of ink on BPA-free paper. One charge seems to last quite a few days, even with very frequent picture-taking and printing. I did buypaper refillsalready and you can tell these aren’t going to be images that last a lifetime but, nearly a year later, I have the portraits that little girl from the gallery took of my children still up on the fridge, and while they’re a little faded they still look good. The unflattering early morning pictures of me from below, however, go straight in the trash.
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More supplies for open-ended kids’ activities
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A never-ending piece of paper for drawings that know no bounds.
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Can be thinned with water, coiled, scored, and slabbed; also can be painted once it's dried.
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What Jon Klassen's kids use for doodling when they're out and about.
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What Marcel Dzama and his teenage son use to record music together.
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For making sculptures and masks and other creations.
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For making zines or comic books or homegrown newspapers.
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