The Camera's Eye

1. What your child learns and why

Your child discovers that a camera sees only one slice of the room — its field of view — and that a place outside it is a blind spot. In the game your child turns and widens the camera's view and sees that a wide view catches more, but everything is smaller. Older children add a second camera that sees the first one's blind spot. The aim is a detective's curiosity, not worry. The lesson deliberately does not talk about burglars.

2. Three questions for dinner

• “What does the camera see, and what does it not see?”
• “Where is the blind spot in your room if the camera is above the door?”
• “Why do people sometimes put up two cameras?” (So each one sees the places the other does not.)

3. 15 minutes together, no screen — a cardboard camera

1. Your child sits in a corner and looks only through a cardboard tube. You move slowly; your child says “I see you” / “I don't see you”. Mark the blind spot with a slip of paper.
2. In a half-dark room, point the torch at the floor: the bright patch is the camera's “view”. Put the tube in front of the torch and compare.
3. Draw the room from above, the camera and its slice with a ruler; colour in the blind spot.

4. What success looks like

• Your child explains “field of view” and “blind spot” in words.
• On their plan your child shows at least one blind spot and how to see it with a second camera or by turning the first one.

5. Common difficulties

• Thinks wider is always better → “Wide sees more, but each thing is smaller. Which do we need here?”
• Wants to shine the torch in someone's face → “The torch looks at the wall and the floor. We protect our eyes.”

Say: “You are the detective — you find out what the camera sees.” Avoid stories about burglars and comparisons with other children.

6. Safety

Never point the torch at anyone's eyes; leave a little light on in the room; move slowly. Where cameras may and may not look (personal space) is the topic of lesson 6 — here we only mention it.

7. Where to go next

Next lesson: DB-PZ-04 “Smoke and Heat”. Previous: DB-PZ-02 “I Sense, I Think, I Signal”.

You don't need to know the answer. Say: “Let's find out together.”