My (now) 5 year old niece Amelia is now great at making photos. I encouraged her from a young age (around 2-3) and the secret is this:

Just give them a camera, teach them how to hit the shutter, how to view photos, and let them go crazy!

Watching kids shoot photos has re-sparked my creative intuition and approach to photography

Photos below by Amelia. Note how epic her low angle is, and how curious she is about shooting everything. No rules, no limits. She shoots anything and everything!

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If you’re scared your kid is gonna break or drop your camera, buy them a rugged RICOH camera (the ones they use on job sites, etc). Or just give your kid your smartphone camera with a rugged case attached.

Why kids prefer cameras with physical buttons

Funny thing I noted with Amelia:

She prefers shooting with my RICOH GR II / RICOH GR III when compared to an iPhone.

Why? The physical feedback when the shutter clicks. And ability to turn on and off the camera. And the Ricoh also fits better in her hands … the phone is too thin and slippery, and lack of haptic buttons.

So surprisingly, RICOH GR II/III as a really good camera for kids to shoot with! And kids like to use the LCD screen. And generally speaking, kids have zero interest in shooting film cameras.