100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 28: Family Portrait

Oliver loves pointing out photos throughout the house, especially photos of his daddy. He'll climb up onto the couch just to point to a picture of Andrew and me on the side table. He loves standing in the stairwell to look at a picture of him with Andrew. I always point out all the people in photos, and he loves it.

While browsing for a fun activity, I discovered one called Family Portrait. It's cute and pretty comical. I have a camera and printer, so it's an economical activity for us, too. The first step is to get a large blanket and drape it over something, like boxes, to create a good background without distractions. I hung the blanket over the headboard on our bed and draped it down. Then, you gather up all your child's favorite toys and stuffed animals, and you scatter them into the photo. If your child doesn't sit still, you can just take a picture of the animals. If you can manage it, though, take a few shots of your child in the photo. Here are ours:

I did all of that yesterday. Then, I went to print out the picture to show Oliver. Wouldn't you know, something went wrong with the printer! It kept printing in a green tint. So, I asked my husband if he could print out a photo on regular paper and bring it home to me. He did because he's awesome.

Today, I sat Oliver down, and I showed him the photo. I pointed out Monkey to him, and he was visibly interested. He pointed out all his animals to me. Then, I pointed to the picture of him, and I said, "Look, that's you! That's Oliver!" He pointed at the picture of himself, and then he pointed to him, and said, "Two!" How cute!
That was basically the end of the activity. It was pretty anticlimactic. I have the photo hung on the fridge for now so Oliver can look at it, but it hasn't captured his attention since. It was pretty fun making the photo scene, and Oliver enjoyed it, too, even though he didn't know what was going on! I give the activity a B- because it was fun making the picture happen. Because it was just a one-time thing and isn't that interesting for more than a minute or two, I don't think it deserves a higher grade than that. Still, I'm glad we did it this one time.