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Creating with Media: Pre-teens
Other ages: Preschoolers | Grade schoolers | Teens
Media tools — computers, digital cameras and sound recorders — can help your child discover that, as great as it is to be entertained and enjoy somebody else's version of fun, it's even better to enjoy fun that is entirely of her making.
Through the process of making her own productions, your child will begin to appreciate that TV shows, video games and movies do not simply appear. People make them. As a result, her hands-on production experience will influence the way she sees, listens to and plays with media made by other people, allowing her to ask questions about how they were made and why. It also will help her discover that she can be more than a consumer: she can be a Web developer, a digital artist, an online storyteller, a game designer, a composer, a filmmaker or just about any other kind of creator she wants to be.
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Encourage your teen to experiment with sound and to learn about radio production.
Youth Radio and Radio Rookies are just some of the sites where young people are using music and words to tell their own stories. -
Introduce your teen to new ways to tell stories in both written and oral forms.
Take your child on a tour of the many online magazines and Web journals where she can publish her poetry, stories and thoughts. Help her make her own "book," "magazine" or literary blog with photographs and construction paper or using software that incorporates electronic text, images, sounds and video. -
Get your teen making visual art.
Digital cameras will put your teen behind the lens and get her thinking about framing a shot, while software such as Adobe Photoshop, which is used by designers and other professionals, will put her in front of the computer screen where she can manipulate her photos and design original artwork. -
Encourage your teen to take a course or explore local library and Web resources on film production.
Apple's iMovie and Cyber Film School are two online tools with tips on shooting, editing and making use of visual effects. For inspiration, introduce your teen to youth-produced films, like those found at Listen Up! Youth Media Network and the Educational Video Center. -
Give your teen the opportunity to become part of a larger community of youth filmmakers.
Have your teen submit her video to film festivals created for students, such as the Urban Visionaries Film Festival. -
Encourage your teen to write investigative news pieces.
Youth Outlook, Youth Communication and Street-Level Youth Media are examples of publications by and for young people. Likewise, Wiretap is a site for "youth in pursuit of the dirty truth." -
Encourage your teen to create original songs, recordings, and sound effects.
Many of today's tools give your teen the freedom to manipulate a recording. Explore audio production tools, including software packages like PG Music Band-in-a-Box, Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge, and Gvox Encore.