A great parenting site for reviews of baby and toddler stuff, Thingamababy, had a cool post recently about digital photography for toddlers. There’s been a lot of discussion at Shooting the Kids on this topic, as my daughter is quickly growing from a baby into a full-blown kid. OK, she’s only 9 months old, but she’s already interested in grabbing the camera every time I point it in her face, so it’s only a matter of time before she’s going to want one for herself.

AJ from Thingamababy was interested in finding a digital camera for his daughter once she started expressing interest in taking pictures, but when shopping around for cameras oriented toward kids, he only found film cameras or digital ones without LCD screens. Knowing how much toddlers need the instant gratification seeing photos on a screen, he opted to see if he could find what he was looking for on Freecycle, a nonprofit network where people offer their possessions free for the taking.

He ended up landing his daughter two(!) free(!) cameras, both only needing minor repairs. And now she’s off shooting (check the site for some of her fabulous work).

This is such a great idea! Who wants to go buy a new digital camera for your young child when all they need is someone’s old used one to get themselves acquainted with the function of taking pictures? Although, I’m sure by the time my daughter is ready to become an aspiring photojournalist, I will be more than ready to upgrade from my trusty Canon PowerShot SD110 to something more Nikon D70-ish.