Tiny Hands, Big Ideas: Photo Toy Safari Language Activity

Here's an idea for a long, tedious road trip, or even just running errands with the kids:

Velcro arms allow for action-heroine poses.

Take along a toy (probably not a favorite; something silly-looking and novel) and photograph it at each of the places you stop. Poseability is a plus.

Some ideas and extensions for older kids:

Could be a wonderful conversation starter in later months.
Can you make your toy fit in with the scenery?
Can you put together the pictures later, as a narrative?
Use them as story prompts.
Add captions
Add thought bubbles.
Blog, email, or digitally scrapbook the ongoing adventures of the toy.

With very young children, the photos work well as a treasure hunt book of basic concepts.

Labeling: Use photos of the same small toy on each page ("where's the doggie? There's the doggie!")
Prepositions: You can put the toy on, in, and under,
Colors: Go on a color search in the store. Pose the toy by something red, yellow, etc.
Letters and numbers: Posing the toy by words you find in the real world ("sale! Buy 2!") helps children put script in context and understand that it has meaning.
Shapes: what shapes do you see in the picture? Again, this is a great opportunity to put learning in context.

Grocery shopping is no longer boring.
(also: cylinders! So hard to picture in a book,
so easy to show in real life!)

Freezer pose! Older children might make up a story about how she wound up in there,
younger ones might be interested in picking out the bright colors and letters.