Sharing photos with children

A picture can be worth a thousand words to your child. Not just to practice their winning smile, but to learn, share and experiment with language. Because most people have hundreds of photos stored on their phone, it’s easy to sit down with your child and look at photos together.

Sharing photos together has many benefits for your child’s growing vocabulary and connection to the important people around them. Conversations start easily around photos as there was usually a reason why you took the photo in the first place.

When looking at photos with your child, talk about when the photo was taken. You might say “This photo was taken the day we went to the park; do you remember how you fed the ducks? Can you remember what we fed them?” If the photo contains lots of people you might point out the people and ask your child to say their names and then talk about who they are in connection to your child.

Babies love to look at pictures too. Watch where their eyes gaze or what photos hold their attention longer or what they react to and interests them.

If important people in your family’s life live far away, photos can be a great way of connecting your child or baby to them. You can point at the picture and say, “This is Nanna, she lives in Longreach and she can’t wait to visit us as it’s a long way away.”

Don’t forget to pause, and wait for your child to respond to you, and then you can build your conversation around what interests them. Even before they’re speaking words, you’ll soon learn what photos your child likes best.  

Looking at photos with your little one is a great way to snuggle up and share stories about your child’s world. You’ll be amazed at how many conversations can come out of the everyday moments you capture with your phone.