Back to School Photo Booth

Sneak Peek, our version of Meet the Teacher, is quickly approaching. As I was ~~procrastinating by scrolling through social media~~ racking my brain for ways to excite students about the new school year, I stumbled across this cute pic from the baby shower my I threw for my best friend.

This inspired me to do a back to school photo booth in my classroom during Sneak Peek. Since I have planned a few social events that incorporated a photo booth, I can assure you that it’s easy, affordable, and worthwhile. You’ll capture fun pictures to commemorate the start of the school year that you can post in your classroom and share with parents.

You will need the following supplies:

iPad, tablet, phone, or camera
Photo booth props
Background
Tripod with tablet mount (optional)–try asking your tech dept. for one you can borrow!
Photo booth app (optional)

Prep your photo booth props by simply printing, cutting out, and attaching to a dowel rod or popsicle stick. Click HERE to check out my back to school speech bubble props. For free printable photo booth props (including mustaches and a Batman mask) from Paper Trail Design, click HERE.

After gathering your supplies, you need to pick a spot in the classroom to set up your photo booth. I find that a solid background makes for the best photos. Make sure your props are in an easy to access spot. I usually put mine in a bucket on a table or stool near the photo booth station.

Then, you’ll need to set up your tripod and iPad. I find that using a tripod, iPad, and photo booth app allows this station to run smoothly, without needing any of my attention. Be sure to temporarily disable your auto-lock (for iPads: Settings — Display & Brightness –Auto-Lock –Never). Another option is to set this up as a selfie station and families can use their own devices to capture pictures.

The photo booth app I use is Evite Photo Booth which is unfortunately no longer available in the App Store; however, a similar one is Pocketbooth for only $0.99. Using an app allows you to capture photos similar to the traditional photo booth. With the press of one button, it counts down to the first picture and then provides time in between frames to change poses (I usually set this to three seconds).

This is what you see when you’re up for the photo booth.
You press the button and pose 4 times!

Here’s the final product!

If you use your own device, the photos will be saved to your camera roll. I upload these to a folder in my Dropbox account and email a link to the parents.

TeachCreateMotivate has a great speech bubble props freebie. Click HERE to get those and see how she sets up her photo booth.

Once you have your supplies, it is easy to adapt your photo booth to use for many different events–Meet the Teacher, Open House, class parties, writing celebrations and the last day of school. I’d love to hear your ideas for integrating a photo booth in your classroom, share below!

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