When working with the staff at Tiny Tots Day Nursery over the Easter Holiday, one of the themes we investigated was how staff working with under 2s could use iPad with their children. We started by talking about what under 2s enjoy and what the staff already provide that is good quality first experiences. This lead the discussion to think about how iPad can be integrated in to a multi-sensory activity with elements of investigation.

I started to unpick the possibilities of using the iPad 2 camera within PhotoBooth. This is an inbuilt app on iPad 2 designed by Apple.

Children can use this App like they would a mirror, however, it has interactive features. Children can add swirls, colours, shapes, patterns to their faces using the forward facing camera. We discussed how we could transfer the saved image to a computer so that the children could print it off and take it home. This means that the youngest children in the setting could use iPad’s PhotoBooth to create artwork. The discussion went on. The activity would be fun but it could become more multi-sensory, so we looked at using the backwards facing camera in PhotoBooth.

By setting up an activity in a large tough spot or on the carpet, children can explore different materials and objects. This is investigative and children pick up and put down different objects, they put two or three objects together, maybe the stack some or line others up. To extend this activity, PhotoBooth could be used by the child to make this 3D experience a 2D masterpiece. The photographs below are examples from my class, when children have played with carpet tiles and used PhotoBooth to capture their work. I’m not sure how they came about this, these are photographs I have found on the class iPad so it’s completely child initiated. The first image is of what they set up on the carpet, the following photographs are PhotoBooth creations.

I really like the potential of the third photograph in this set, as it transforms a shape picture in to a symetrical pattern. I wish I had been around when this happened to use this as a starting point for developing understanding of symmetry through this shape play.

Capturing their play through the camera could mix the scene up a bit more. Staff can upload this to the Nursery’s blog and print it off (if you are not using a blog, you could always use the DropBox App and website or simply email the images to yourself and download on a computer). This way, the child’s investigate play has been transferred into an image that can be displayed on the fridge at home! They have also made a recording of their work that will last forever.

Children could also use PhotoBooth to capture an image of any mark making or creative work they have done. They can use the features of the App to manipulate their work further. Would this be the beginnings of adapting and evaluating work?

This is when I started to think about older children in the setting, but also the work for Ceri Williams with X Box Kinect. Ceri demonstrated his use of Kinect for Windows Apps at TeachMeet SEN. He used the Kinect body tracking to follow the gestures of children with physical disabilities so that they could create ‘paintings’ with their body on a screen.

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Are you interested in iPad art? Take a look at this amazing example of SketchShare App with college students…