The objectives of this study are to determine how children use digital
cameras, and to discuss what significance their use of digital cameras has for
media and art education of early childhood education. For this purposes, two
children’s playing with digital cameras were observed for one year and four
months. Observational records, photographs and videos produced by children,
structured or unstructured interviews were analyzed and interpreted.
Two children were given a digital camera to play with, and they found
various playing with digital camera by themselves. They played with the digital
camera by taking pictures, documenting themselves playing, and producing videos
of what they had seen and experienced. Furthermore, these experiences were
creative processes in their entirety, and were useful recording means instead of
written words. The two children discovered new ways to use a digital camera
such as recording and re-viewing television programs, editing photos arbitrarily,
composing music, and making images using their imagination. Playing with digital
cameras provides opportunities for the configuring and re-configuring of
experiences, and children looked at and thought about themselves and their
environment through their experiences playing with digital cameras. This activity
was also a communication tool; in other words, it has symbolic meaning and
potential as a language. In addition, playing with the digital camera was a free art
activity; therefore, the children freely expressed their thoughts and feelings, freely
played, freely imagined, and created using the digital camera. Playing with a
digital camera has educational significance in that it promotes children’s
competence and confidence in using digital equipment. A digital camera is a useful tool for children’s art education, and there is a need to provide children
with more chances to use digital cameras as naturally as possible. This study may
offer some insight into children’s use of digital cameras to become active creators
in natural, everyday situations.