Ansel Adams Lesson Plans

There are so many wonderful directions you can go with a study on Ansel Adams!  Our top recommendations are to study his life, study photography, and/or study the National Parks.  Here are a few ideas to get you started in those areas!

Don't have the letter yet?  You can grab the snail mail letter here and the instant digital download version here!

We also have a Pinterest board created for each letter with additional ideas for lessons and arts & crafts projects.

To get your free downloads go here!

For All Ages

 Movie/Video

• Watch the trailer for the video Ansel Adams: Photographer, an interview with Ansel Adams, or the BBC special on Ansel Adams here.

• Watch the PBS special on Ansel Adams here.
  

Poetry

• Here’s an excellent article on how poetry and photography are alike from Digital Photography School
  
  
• There are several poems about cameras and photography at Hello Poetry

Visit

• Ansel Adams Gallery at the Village Mall at Yosemite National Park
  
  
• Ansel Adams Exhibits –Check out one of these traveling exhibits of photographs by Ansel Adams
  
  
• Ansel Adams: The Mural Project 1941-1942 at the US Department of the Interior Headquarters in Washington, D.C.  You can find information about how to arrange a tour here.
  
  
• Visit a local photography museum to view their exhibits or a local photography school or studio to view their prints.  Call your local art museums to see if any of them have any works by Ansel Adams currently on display or if they know of a museum in your local area that does.

 Resources

• Ansel Adams: The National Park Service Photographs
  
• Ansel Adams in the National Parks: Photographs from America's Wild Places
  
• Enjoy Photography by Ansel Adams all year long with the Ansel Adams 2020 Wall Calendar

• Study Yosemite National Park with Lanes Less Traveled: Explorers Guide to Yosemite National Park

• Dear Summit: wonderful National Parks map, journals, stickers, T-shirts and other goodies
  
  
• Learn about our National Parks and collect park passport stamps with Stamp Your Way Through the U.S.A., a five books series celebrating each National Park's beauty while encouraging the collection of official park stamps along the way.
  
  
• While you’re busy studying our National Parks get outside and visit one or even a local park with 1000 Hours Outside.

Preschool

Books

• All Aboard! National Parks: A Wildlife Primer by Haily Meyers

• You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks by Evan Turk

Activities

• Go on a photo scavenger hunt with your child using one of the photo scavenger hunt guides in our free downloads for the Ansel Adams letter.  Have your child point out to you the things he/she would like to take a picture of or carefully help him/her take the picture.

• Look through pictures of a recent family outing with your child and talk about the importance and joy of taking pictures to help us remember where we've been and what we've done while we were there.
  
  
• Look through photographs taken by Ansel Adams either in a book such as Ansel Adams: The National Park Service Photographs or online at the Ansel Adams Gallery
  
• Consider buying your child a kid-friendly camera such as the Vtech KidiZoom

Elementary

Books

• National Parks of the U.S.A. by Kate Siber
  
  
• National Parks of the U.S.A. Activity Book
  
• The National Parks Coloring Book
  

• National Geographic Kids National Parks Guide USA Centennial Edition: The Most Amazing Sights, Scenes, and Cool Activities from Coast to Coast!

• National Parks: A Kid's Guide to America's Parks, Monuments, and Landmarks

• Antsy Ansel: Ansel Adams, a Life in Nature by Cindy Jensenn-Elliott
  

Activities

• Give your child a brief lesson on how to use the camera on your cell phone or other camera, then have him/her go on a photo scavenger hunt using one of the photo scavenger hunt guides in our free downloads for the Ansel Adams letter.
  
  
• Take a Photography Class:
• Video School Online: Photography for Kids
• Foto Finch: Composition for Elementary Students
• Unit Study: Digital Photography
  
• Consider getting your child a basic beginner digital camera such as the

  Canon PowerShot ELPH 180 Digital Camera
  

Middle School/High School

 Books

• Ansel Adams: An Autobiography

• Ansel Adams: The Camera (The Ansel Adams Photography Series 1)

• The Print (Ansel Adams Photography)

• The Negative (Ansel Adams Photography)

• Looking at Ansel Adams: The Photographs and the Man by Andrea G. Stillman
  
  

• Moon USA National Parks: The Complete Guide to All 59 Parks (Travel Guide)

• National Geographic Complete National Parks of the United States, 2nd Edition: 400+ Parks, Monuments, Battlefields, Historic Sites, Scenic Trails, Recreation Areas, and Seashores

• Read more about Ansel Adams and his Photography including his development of the Zone System here

Activities

• Go on a photo scavenger hunt using one of the photo scavenger hunt guides in our free downloads for the Ansel Adams letter.  Give yourself a challenge and try the "Chasing the Light Scavenger Hunt"!  If you enjoy photography, have your favorite photos printed and invite your friends and family to see your work.
  
  
• Take a Photography Class:
• Alison: Introduction to Digital Photography
• Udemy: Beginner Nikon Digital SLR Photography
• Great Courses: Fundamentals of Photography with Joel Sartore
• Foto Finch: Composition and Photojournalism
  
• Consider getting your child a basic beginner digital camera such as the

  Canon PowerShot ELPH 180 Digital Camera or invest in a Digital SLR camera kit if your child shows great interest in photography...excellent deals can be found on used photograph equipment at KEH Photography

 

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