Animation for all ages

There is something about an animation lesson that just hooks kids every time. Thanks to GIFS, tik-tok and boomerangs our students are already well versed on moving pictures. While it was never expressly part of my curriculum, I always tried to sneak a little bit of animation in when I could.

K-2 students absolutely can master some of the basic animation devices like roll ups and thaumatropes. For the littles, I prefer a circle or square on a stick or straw to string, but I usually show them both and let them choose. Two years ago I did an animation station at my elementary STEAM night and the kids (and parents) had so much fun making both of these items. I've also used them as part of my art center and free choice day.

3-5 students love jumping into more complex ideas and if you have access to technology, this might be a great time to work in a little stop motion. A few years back I wrote a grant to get enough white boards and modeling clay for a grade level of 3rd graders. They worked in teams to create animated shorts. They did their titles with dry erase, and their videos were claymations using the stop motion studio app. A few adventurous kids, brought the videos into iMovie and added sound. Original behind the scenes post here.

Middle schoolers will love any of the above PLUS they might have the patience to do an old school zoetrope, phenakistoscope or flip book. My fifth graders were able to do some basic animations in procreate last year. This year, I dedicated a healthy portion of my budget to purchase a procreate license for each of my cartooning students. Using the animation assist feature, they are starting to animate characters they designed. 

We started by examining anthropomorphism and they are working to bring to life an inanimate object. Their first mini assignment was a single action sequence. A wave, a hop, a blink. It's really important for them to separate a single action from a broader term (like "dancing") as many kids will be ready to go with a whole plotline. This student's "nervous" candy is really sweating it out on halloween.

From there, we did a basic squash and stretch activity in procreate with basic shapes. This is how they learned to identify their keys (extremes). We used animation assist to speed up the drawing process.

They are now sketching out a more advanced movement sequence. It's so much fun to watch their ideas come to life. How about frame 5 on this adorable origami boat. I love how he's peeking to check that the coast is clear.

With strong connections to science, writing and math I can guarantee your principal will never complain about you teaching animation in art! If you'd like some help with lesson plans for these ideas you can click the links above for the original posts or you can view my lesson plans:

Historical Animation devices

Animation with Procreate

Stop Motion Lessons