I was contacted by my townships arts association office a month ago about teaching. They want me to teach a group of "youths" about photography this Sunday afternoon. Sure no problem. Well today I was advised that the "youths" will be sent to me in 5 groups and are ages 5-11. I was expecting middle school and high school kids. How would you teach photography to a group this young? I don't know if they will understand composition, rule of thirds, and how light is important to photography.

any suggestions would be so helpful.

Taria

I taught photography to kids that age one summer when I was a teenager. At the time, I used a 110 film camera and had to wait for processing so you're already ahead of the game with digital.

You can show them examples of good pictures and bad pictures. Talk about headroom. Show examples of depth-of-field. Let them take a picture then review it with the group. Get their thoughts about what works and what doesn't. What could be improved and how. Teach them about holding their breath when shooting, and the proper way to hold a camera.

Stuff like that.

I JUST did a presentation at a local Boys and Girls club and I put together a cool powerpoint to show them. Google "teaching kids photography" and there were a LOT of really helpful hints specific to young children.