What is the best digital camera for kids?
When I went through my ECE training in 2002 digital cameras were much too expensive- so when we wanted to have the kids use cameras, we bought disposable ones, and then printed out the photos. Now with the advent of camera phones kids are exposed to them all the time. However there STILL isn’t much in the way of kid-proof cameras.
I’ve researched several but most of them have problems:
- quality is too low – as in potato quality
- too fragile – can’t withstand a drop
- requires many batteries
- they all had games or frames to make the photo ‘fun’. It’s like taking photos isn’t enough! I understand such options, but I haven’t seen a kids camera that focuses on being a camera.
Other people were annoyed at the lack of good options too, so back in February a kickstarter launched and the Pixlplay Camera is now available!
Pixelplay Camera
The perfect solution!
It is basically a phone case that goes around your android or iPhone and turns it into a kid proof camera!
The process:
- bought a cheap android phone (LG Optimus Zone 3) at target for $30.
- downloaded the free google play app “Open Camera”. (theres a Pixelplay app for the iPhone, but it has games- maybe they will have a camera only option someday)
- put the phone in “airplane mode”
- deleted all the shortcuts to any other app from the home screen- except “Gallery” and “Open Camera”
- Set the “Gallery” app to open the Open Camera app when you click on the back to camera button
- then showed the kids how to hold the camera and let them have at it!
There are of course a few notes:
- The design to hold the camera ‘naturally’ might have little fingers covering the camera lens, so I have to watch for that (or if it became a problem, perhaps I could paint a spot where their hand is ‘supposed to be’ – maybe the design will change to compensate for this someday)
- On some models of android you can create a ‘restricted’ account and only allow the two apps to run. Otherwise you might have the kids ‘accidentally’ opening up other apps.
- I tell the kids to come to me if they notice the camera stops working (then I just open it up and reset it)
- The largest size phone it can hold is 5.87 x 2.93 x 0.374 inches (149 x 74.4 9.5 mm)
Their photos turned out AMAZING! Expect a lot of blurry shots, but it is so great to see from the viewpoint of a child.
