“Thank you so much for all the friendly and enthusiastic support you have given (our daughter) as she’s developed her photography skills – we were so very lucky to find The Mango Lab!” LW, Teens Beginners & Advanced Photography course
Junior Future Creatives
Our Junior Future Creatives program has grown over a decade. Head of Child and Teen Education Creative Director, Julia Massey Stewart, is very intent on making certain your children and teens are guided by one amazing principle of our governing philosophy – learning is fun! We often receive comments from parents saying that their son or daughter’s course time is the highlight of their week. That’s pretty cool feedback and fabulous to hear!
All our tutors are Enhanced DBS certified and our non-discriminatory teaching methods are completely focused on your child’s successful learning path. Additionally, as members of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA), our unique offering is that in addition to the practical experience of using cameras, lenses and computers we will encourage your son or daughter to engage in a process involving how they see, observe, makes decisions and communicate. Once again, our Parent and Student Feedback page is testament to the commitment we make to your child learning and growing.
As with all our courses across the age groups, and in particular with our youngest ages of students, we work and observe together as a group and vary the pace and activities – not walking or sitting for too long, with mini breaks and lots of variety! Almost always our lovely students don’t want to stop and want to come back for more. We have tested our course times over many years now – we set up The Mango Lab in 2009! So we are confident these time slots for this younger age group are tried and tested and work.
We also loan cameras of size and weight appropriate for the student, so please guide us when/if reserving a FREE LOAN CAMERA for your child for one of our courses.
We look forward to inspiring you soon!
PHOTOGRAPHY + CAMERA BASICS
Light, Camera, Action! | building awareness and confidence to create vision
The fun begins at learning how to make images. Automation in mobile phones makes everyone a budding photographer – that’s the elephant in the room. Our students want more than a point and shoot experience and we deliver that. How do I photograph my dog in the dark? Why are my pictures not sharp? Do you think this is a good picture? In Photography + Camera Skills we move away from automation and into thinking individually about making a photograph. Your child discovers the science behind the camera and light in a series of experiments through which the fundamentals of photography are revealed.
MAKING STORIES THROUGH VISUAL LITERACY
Telling Stories with Pictures | reading images and building camera skills
From fake news to infographics, staged Instagram selfies to viral images of lawyers with cat avatars our children are growing up in an environment where the image continues to creep into our information forming networks. Understanding how reading images can affect how we feel or interpret society around us is a necessary part of our information gathering process. Moving from a text literate to a visual literate society is the next iteration in expanding our growth as communicators. Our brand of visual literacy courses for junior creatives simply explores the act of seeing. Unlike the photography courses this is about deep seeing into photographs already made. Through games, puzzles and reading picture practice the course intends to have 8 – 11 year olds observe, feedback and expand on visuals placed in front of them in order to improve on observational and image reading skills and bring to their attention the influencing factors pictures can make.
COURSES in 2025
Summer holidays 2025: 28-31 July, 11-14 Aug, 2025
Autumn term-time 2025
October half-term 2025
All our courses start and finish at our meeting space in Covent Garden, London, unless otherwise advised. For Cornwall courses please see the Cornwall section below.
We include elements of Camera Basics and Making Stories as highlighted above, with flexiblity to adjust to the group’s interests. Join us for some m
SUMMER HOLIDAYS 2025
LONDON COURSES for CHILDREN: 8-11 year olds (and a bit either side)
July 2025
Mon 28 July – Thurs 31 July, 2pm-5pm, AFTERNOONS, 12 hours. Max. 6 students per group. £355 inc. VAT
August 2025
Mon 11 Aug – Thurs 14 Aug, 10am-1pm, MORNINGS, 12 hours. Max. 6 students per group. £355 inc. VAT
One day course
Fri 22 Aug, 11am-1pm – break for lunch together at nearby cafe – 2-5pm, ONE DAY, 5 hours. Max. 6 students per group. £155 inc. VAT and free camera loan, lenses, tripods, editing software use.
This day workshop will include photography skills, plus a mini amount of editing and postcard printing!
Each workshop includes photography skills, plus some editing and postcard printing! Free DSLR camera loan, lenses, etc.
Contact us to book for courses or with any questions: 0203 002 4991 / info@themangolab.co.uk.
TERM-TIME COURSES | WEEKENDS Photography for 8-11 year olds
IN PERSON : LONDON
Autumn 2025: WEEKENDS term-time
// September 2025 – dates to follow
// October
// November
// December
Join when you can, and build your skills as you add more experience!
Contact us to register your interest: 0203 002 4991 / info@themangolab.co.uk.
ONLINE sessions: via Zoom /Teams, 1:1
BEGINNERS Photography and Camera skills – customisable, just tell us what you want to learn!
Custom times, divided over days, weeks or more: you let us know what works for you, how long, how frequently, etc. We suggest sessions of 1-1.5 hours for most younger students.
3 hours Beginners Photography & Camera online face-to-face training £135 inc vat.
6 hours Beginners Photography & Camera online face-to-face training £270 inc vat.
12 hours Beginners Photography & Camera online face-to-face training £540 inc vat.
Contact us to book for courses or with any questions: 0203 002 4991 / info@themangolab.co.uk.
Beginners Plus / Intermediate – all customisable to what you want to learn
Custom times, divided over days, weeks or more: you let us know what works for you, how frequently, etc. We suggest sessions of 1-1.5 hours for most younger students.
3 hours Telling Stories with Pictures online face-to-face training £135 inc vat.
6 hours Telling Stories with Pictures online face-to-face training £270 inc vat.
12 hours Telling Stories with Pictures online face-to-face training £540 inc vat.
Use the Book Now tab or call us on 0203 002 4991 to enrol.
We are always happy to answer your questions in detail by email info@themangolab.co.uk or by phone: 0203 002 4991.
We look forward to inspiring you soon!