The Field Trip Photo Album
Children take a pretend field trip around the playground and, at each stop, each group freezes in a group photo of what they're seeing; then they recreate the photos while looking at the album. It builds expressive movement, memory and agreeing together.
How to play
- Board the pretend bus and ride around the playground, bouncing over bumps (2 min).
- First stop: "Photo at the waterfall!" Each group of five gets together and freezes on "click" (2 min).
- Keep traveling and take more photos: with the giraffe, eating lunch, waving from the boat (4 min).
- Look at the album: the teacher names a photo and each group recreates it exactly (3 min).
- Two groups show a photo and the others say what they see (2 min).
- Final whole-class photo: "Say cheese!" (1 min).
Rules
- In the photo, everyone together and still.
- I listen to my friends to decide on the photo.
- After the "click", I keep traveling.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, whole-class photos with the teacher suggesting the pose.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, photos in groups of five with simple scenes.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, each group picks a stop on the trip and the others guess where the photo was taken.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: the child is at the center of the group photo and the scene is built around the wheelchair.
- Visual impairment: a friend quietly describes the pose and places the child's hand.
- Autism: signal the "click" with a three-count, and the child can be the photographer at some stops.
Learning goals
- Act out scenes with the body as a group.
- Remember and repeat a pose.
- Agree on how to create an image.
Teacher tip
Bring a toy camera or make the gesture very clear: the "click" is the freeze signal. Before each photo, give ten seconds for the group to talk; otherwise they all strike the same pose.
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