Got an Old Digital Point and Shoot?

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Whenever I run into parents of young children, I always give them this experiment to try out, so I may as well post this here as well.

Do you have an older point and shoot digital camera? Are you about to replace it with something nifty? Maybe you just replaced it and now it’s sitting in the closet? Don’t let it just collect dust - give it to your kid!

We had a cheapo Nikon P&S that I thought I would eBay - but saw that they were only going for about $25. So I gave it to my son Mickey, who was only about 3 at the time, and man has it been fun ever since. Kids aren’t going to care if it’s only a 6MP, or if it doesn’t have the latest anti-shake technology or doesn’t make breakfast for you. For them, the pleasure is simple: they push a button, and see a picture on the back.

In the past couple years, my son has shot probably 700 or 800 photos. Sure, the first 50 were of my butt, my wife’s butt, or the dogs’ butts, or the backs of our knees. But with a little practice, he learned to point it up some more, and now has a blast with it. He takes photos of everything in his world, and it’s a lot of fun to go through his pictures from time to time and see what he’s interested in. Sometimes it’s pictures of mom and dad, sometimes it’s the dogs, and other times he’ll even set up elaborate scenes with his toys.

The point is, your kid, or your friend’s kid, or whomever’s kid, will have a lot of fun with that little point and shoot. If you really have no use for it anymore, what’s the harm? Just have fun!

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Tags: children, digital, experiment, kids, Photography, point and shoot