Quaker Oats

Last summer, my church started a fine arts week for the children who attended Vacation Bible School. We called it Camp FYT (Find Your Talent). I was asked to teach a class and I decided to teach a photography class. It took me a while to figure out what projects I would do with the kids because I didn't want to do anything too complicated. However, being me, I wanted their artwork to be impressive, so I had the kids make pinhole cameras out of oatmeal containers. I spent a few weeks experimenting before I had to teach the class. I made my own pinhole camera and used my parents bathroom as a darkroom. They were thrilled. When it was time to get my classroom ready, I found the perfect closet at church to create a darkroom. I had the kids take pictures with their homemade cameras and I brought them into our small little darkroom, so that they could learn how black and white photos were developed. After several tries, the kids pictures came out awesome. We all had so much fun! It's amazing how one little oatmeal container can create such a detailed image. This first picture was my first experiment at home. It is the negative, made from the pinhole camera itself and the other image is the positive image, made from the negative.



















I gathered a bunch of objects for the kids to use in order to make their own still lifes for their images. Their arrangements were very creative. We used fruit, jars, boxes, and many different items.










Here are two of the kids' negatives made from the still life arrangements. This was the first time I ever taught a class on my own and it was a wonderful experience. The kids were so amazed and I had a great time showing them how much fun photography can be. A few of them even asked their parents if they could make their own darkroom at home. How cute.