8 must-have back-to-school pictures

Start with those new school supplies. Get creative: arrange objects by color or in the shape of a number (your child’s grade, for instance). You can lay them out on a solid-colored blanket, sheet or carpet so all the items pop. Then snap a photo.

Just like the school supplies, lay out the first day of school outfit. Include shoes, accessories, backpack, lunchbox, pocket contents, etc. Then take a picture.

Find a favorite spot outside, where you think you will be able to take a picture each year. Have your child hold a large cardboard number signifying his or her grade year. (Buy a pre-cut number at a craft store or cut one out from cardboard and spray paint it.) At the end of the year, all the kids in your child’s classroom can sign the large number and you can display it as a memento.

Find a place in your house to mark your child’s height at the beginning of the school year. At the end of the school year take a picture of your child standing next to the mark you made at the beginning of the year.

Set up a tripod so you can jump into a photo with your kids. At the end of the year, take another photo in the same spot to see how much you’ve changed. Yes, you change, too. Your kids will appreciate looking back and seeing all your changes (hairstyles, outfits, etc.) when they’re all grown up. This can also be great motivation to stay in shape.

Find a sheet of paper, blackboard, dry-erase board or even some chalk and a sidewalk. Then ask your kids to write down all the things they love right now: favorite color, favorite subject, favorite TV show, favorite thing to do, favorite food, favorite song, favorite movie…you get the idea. Throw in a few other questions for them to answer, such as what they want to be when they grow up, who their teachers are, etc. Then take the photo! (A similar idea is to buy a roll of paper, tape a large piece up on the wall, and have your child stand in their back-to-school outfit, with all these things written around them.)

Notice little things, as busy as it can be those first few days. Document them with your cellphone camera—you can always organize the photos later! Your goal is to tell the story of the start of a new school year. Take pictures of lunches, climbing onto the bus, walking with friends or siblings, their first report card, graded paper or art project.

Take your camera to back-to-school night and snap some pictures of your child’s classroom, desk and things they’ve contributed to the classroom walls. Be sure to get a snapshot of your child’s teacher!