All Signs Indicate That Kids Were Here :: A Fun Photography Project

If you have read some of my other posts, you know that I love taking photographs and that I especially love photographing and documenting my family, particularly my two girls. But…sometimes getting a fun shot of my pint-sized perpetual motion machines is downright challenging if not impossible. And…sometimes when they do stop long enough for me to hit that shutter release button, I end up with something like this:

Don’t get me wrong, I love to pieces that cheesy little grin, and I am so happy to have documented it probably in no less than 572 photos. Nonetheless I was inspired a few months back when I learned about a project, Kids Were Here, in which a group of photographers were documenting evidence of their children but not necessarily their kids. It is a fun project to document life with kids without actually documenting your kids. Here are some ideas:

• Loveys – While it may seem like your child will be entering college still carrying around and/or sleeping with their lovey, I am guessing that won’t actually happen. Make sure to document what may have been your child’s first friend…first comforter…first thing that they threw out of the crib to get your attention.

• Stuffed Animals/Toys – You might not soon forget the dolls, blocks, stuffed animals, or whatever other toys that your child plays with constantly (especially the legos, which you stepped on the other day because those suckers leave scars), but there is something sweet and sentimental about having documented seemingly ordinary day-to-day play…the doll strapped into the highchair, the cars and trucks all in a line, the impressive block city that they built in an afternoon.

• Artwork – If your children are anything like mine, they create a minimum of 23 drawings, paintings, pictures, or letters a day. While I try to save and keep the more interesting or “special” pieces, I also try to document other works or things that have more significance to me, like the first picture that my oldest drew in which she narrated a story that was reflected by her drawing. There also are several companies that will create a book, a wall hanging, or even a stuffed animal of your children’s artwork. Consider taking a picture of all of the “materials” used in the creation of your child’s artwork. Pencils, crayons, paints…can all make for some really interesting and fun photographs.

• Messes – You may be longing for the days when laundry is not piled high, when toys are not strewn all over the house, when dinner is in someone’s tummy rather than all over the floor, but embrace that mess! Okay, that might be asking too much, but see if you can find something unique, fun, or sentimental in the pile of spaghetti that is now covering your dog.

Need some more inspiration…check out the original Kids Were Here site or here or here for some great ideas or to just check out some amazing, sweet photography!

What traces of childhood are you going to capture?