Take a photo, make a friend: easy photo activities that build early skills, self-esteem, and community

While not as obvious as crayons, glue sticks, or safety scissors, photographs of your students may be the perfect back-to-school resource for your classroom.

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Using photos in the classroom can help nurture a young student's developing self-concept and self-esteem. Photos can also encourage children to celebrate diversity and appreciate the unique qualities that each person possesses.

Primary teachers who use photos in their learning centers and throughout the day agree. "The children enjoy seeing themselves, as well as their classmates and families," says Victoria Miller Bennett, a second-grade teacher at Goshen Elementary in Prospect, Kentucky. Bennett posts a picture of each student and his or her family on a special bulletin board that grows throughout the year, as "the class photographer"--one of Bennett's classroom jobs--snaps pictures of the other children at work and play. Here are more classroom-tested ideas for you to try.

Mixed-Up Faces

Want to help build community and increase your students' skills in observation, spatial awareness, matching, and problem solving? Try this activity: Glue an enlarged photograph of each child to construction paper. Then use a paper cutter to cut each photo into three horizontal strips. Spread your new puzzle pieces out on the table or floor, and invite kids to create brand new faces by combining different features. As students play, invite them to say or write the personality traits their "people" might exhibit if they were real. For example, "She has Kylie's love of sports and Michael's great math abilities." For easy storage, hole-punch the strips and put them in a binder, allowing students to mix and match during free time.

Body-Building Alphabet

Give students practice in teamwork, problem solving, and communication skills by having them build different letters with their bodies--then capture the results on film. First, ask children how they might build the letter B, for example. How many kids will need to work together? How will their bodies need to be positioned? Encourage kids to use listening and language skills to complete each letter-making task. Then snap away! (Stand on a sturdy chair to get a better angle.) Post the photographs or combine them into a book to familiarize children with the alphabet. Or make a super-simple game of Concentration by duplicating the photos to use as cards.

Musical Friends

Looking for a terrific getting-to-know-you activity? Play a round of musical chairs that will help students learn one another's names and interests. Place a photo of each child on the front of a chair back (there's no need to have one less chair in this non-competitive version of the game). Invite kids to stand in a circle around the chairs and start the music. When the music stops, the children sit down on the nearest chair. Ask each child to identify whose photo is on his or her chair. Older students may also share something special about that classmate. Later on, challenge kids by using photos of arms and legs instead of faces.

How Are You Feeling?

Primary kids need to know it's okay to express their emotions--while developing an understanding of how our emotions can affect others. To foster these crucial skills, take or collect a number of photos that show children expressing different feelings. Ask children to look closely at each picture and describe how that child might be feeling. Then encourage kids to find another photo where a child is experiencing similar emotions.

As students become more comfortable recognizing and discussing feelings, the game can be made more challenging by including pictures of situations that might lead a child to feel a certain way, such as a photo of two children sharing. Kids can then match a "situation shot" with an "emotion shot" and discuss how one led to the other. Ask: What situations lead to happy emotions? What situations can lead to sadness and anger? How can we make our classroom community a safe place to express positive emotions?

Puppet Play

Make room in your puppet bin for some lifelike characters--your students! Kids can use their class puppets to tell stories and practice narrative skills. Have children cut their faces or bodies from large, close-up photographs, then mount on heavy paper and laminate. Then attach a craft stick or glove to the back of the puppet using tape or strong glue. Kids love to change their own appearance, so paper-and-marker costumes are a fun touch. If you don't have a puppet theater, it's easy to make one using different-sized boxes. Invite children to act out favorite stories or create new ones--starring themselves, of course--using settings such as the woods, the ocean, outer space, or the jungle. Or try using the puppets during large group time as a fun, alternative way for students to express themselves.

All Twisted Up

Put a photographic twist on the classic game of Twister[TM] and your students will call on their muscle strength, spatial awareness, flexibility, and sense of humor. Make the game board by cutting out large, blown-up photos of each child and gluing them to sturdy cardboard circles. Laminate and attach the circles to a Twister board or to the floor with strong tape. Small groups can take turns playing by having one "caller" announce a name and a right or left hand/foot direction. For example, "Place your right hand on Maria." Older kids can give more complex directions, such as "Place your foot on a friend who has black hair," or "Place your hand on a friend who can play piano."