You just need their favorite toy and a camera.
Sometimes a simple and easy way to make a child smile is to hold a secret photo shoot with one of their favorite toys. Ideally when you present the slideshow to the child, they'd get excited about the fun (and trouble) their favorite toy got into when they weren't around to witness it themselves.
How I Got a Hold of My Niece's Toy
My nieces and nephews often stayed over at my Mom's house ("Grandma's house") hauling their favorite toys. One of my niece's never went anywhere without her monkey.
After a weekend visit to "Grandma's house," my niece left her monkey behind. When I learned about this, I rushed to my Mom's house and took photos of the monkey in the silliest ways I could think of.
Because it's a TY beanie baby plush with pellets inside, it wasn't difficult to sit the monkey to make some fun poses.
The Photo Shoot
The first photo I took was monkey sitting on the toilet holding toilet paper. I don't know why, but it was the first pose that came to mind. It was also originally the only photo I was going to take and show my niece later.
However, I guess a part of me wanted to dabble in toy photography, so I thought about staging additional photos with my niece's favorite toy.
I remembered the teddy bear calendars my Lola ("grandma" in Tagalog) would gift me every year. Every month featured a photo of teddy bears doing regular, everyday things.
For example, April's photo could show a couple teddy bears splashing in rain puddles. August's photo could show teddy bears seated at desks in a classroom. November's photo could show a teddy bear creating Fall-themed arts and crafts.
As I thought about how to pose monkey for additional photos, I made sure to consider things my niece was familiar with. I didn't want to put monkey in a position that my niece wouldn't recognize or understand at her young age.
When my nieces and nephew stayed at "Grandma's house," they'd watch TV, snack on sweet treats, and do activities I left at my Mom's house to keep them preoccupied.
I eventually took photos of monkey doing the things my nieces and nephew would do when they visited. These included eating vanilla wafers, completing an activity sheet, watching TV, and holding a toothbrush.
I then took other fun photos of monkey being frightened by a scary book, filling my dog's water bowl, and holding my Mom's Bingo dabber. These were items and activities my niece was familiar with and would recognize.
It was easy to pose monkey because of the pellets within him, but some poses required some extra support. I used scotch tape to help monkey hold onto something like his face or a wrench. There was one time I asked my Mom's help to hold an empty jug to show monkey pouring water into a bowl.
While I could've called it quits with the photos I took, I decided to take a risk. I wanted to see how my nieces and nephew reacted to photos of monkey doing something it's not supposed to do.
My nieces and nephew weren't permitted to go through my Mom's makeup drawer or touch my Dad's toolbox. As an adult, I was allowed to go through these things, so I took advantage of my grownup privilege for a couple more photo shoots.
I wasn't sure if this was wrong to do. I didn't want to encourage my nieces and nephew to do the wrong things, but I was curious to see how they'd react to these questionable photos.
The Photos I Didn't Share and Why
There were a few photos to I didn't share with my niece at the time. My parents and I were preparing to leave for a two-week vacation to Las Vegas. I thought I could take monkey with us and continue to the photo shoot during out trip.
I took a few photos of monkey on a suitcase, riding in the backseat of my SUV, and with hands on the steering wheel. I thought I could save the travel photos for a picture book I would have printed for my nieces and nephew to enjoy.
My niece was unbearable for my brother and sister-in-law to deal with without her favorite monkey. We had to deliver monkey to her the morning we headed out-of-state.
While she was happy to get her monkey back, she wasn't happy we were going to the "adult arcade city" without her. Well, I always told my nieces and nephews that we went to an "adult arcade city" in Nevada.
I didn't share the photos with her until after our trip because I wrote a story to tell her as we looked through the photos together. Because she was so unhappy about not going with us to the "adult arcade city," I omitted the photos of monkey on the suitcase and in my SUV.
I eventually gave her the last photos when she was older. Even as a teenager, the photos made her smile.
My Thoughts
My nieces and nephews enjoyed the photos and the story I made up to go along with them. My niece specifically loved that monkey was mostly well taken care of in her absence.
The best part was when they saw the photos of monkey doing things he wasn't supposed to do. My nephew yelled when he noticed the knife in the toolbox. He started scolding monkey for not being safe.
My nieces later sat monkey down and lectured it about not going through Grandma's makeup drawer and Grandpa's toolbox, both no-no's for my nieces and nephews at their young ages.
It also made me laugh out loud to see their reaction to the photos. Being scolded by my nieces and nephew for making light of a serious situation was also hilarious.
Sadly, my now young adult nieces and nephew don't remember the photo shoot I had with monkey. However, I'll always remember how fun the photo shoots were and how the reveal made my nieces and nephew smile as young children.
What's Next?
I'm tempted to recreate these images as digital drawings to create a short children's book. What do you think about this idea? Please leave a comment or send me a private email if you think I should go through with this idea.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
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