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Make Your Own Animation

Home >> Home School Ideas >> Make your own animation

Have you ever wondered how to make an animation?

We have made several animations as part of our homeschooling. It is very easy, and doesn't need any expensive equipment.

This article will explain how to make your own animation in two ways, and I have then added some extra links and ideas for inspiration.

Make your own animation - child taking photos

Creating Animations on the PC

There are several pieces of software for use on the PC. Pivot Stickfigure Animator is free software that allows you to create a stick figure animation. There is also a more advanced version – Stickman – it's not free but there is a free trial. Shapeshifter is a free animation program for creating short movies online. We have had a play with this and it is really neat.

New
I have found a great new site that allows you to create really detailed animations.

Go Animate is worth checking out!

Clay or Model Animations

You will need a digital camera (and preferable a tripod) for this method, but I think it is easy enough for even smaller children to manage.

Set up the camera pointing at your background and models. These could be clay, lego or playmobil figures, or even characters drawn and cut out of paper (we made our fish animation this way). After you have taken a photo, move your models slightly and take another picture. The smaller the increments, the smoother the movie – my children were too impatient to do this well but they were still pleased with the results!!

When you have finished, load your pictures onto the PC and string them together using a free copy of Irfanview . I found if I made a slideshow (setting the automatic slide advancement to 0.002 seconds) it gave a smooth transition through the pictures. There is an article on this with an example on the PC World News site (although I used Jpeg files not GIF).

Home School Ideas

There are so many homeschooling applications for this – here are some ideas I came up with

Make a drawing come to life.

Use a book or story you are enjoying, and make a movie of it.

Make an animation of a historical event. Or what about a volcano erupting?

If you are making models for a homeschooling project (eg. Egyptian pyramids), why not use them to act out the day in the life of an Egyptian?

Make a movie based on a script written by the children.

There are two good videos available on Teachers TV about creating animations with children ( they are free to download but you have to register). Teachers TV - 2D Animation
Teachers TV - 3D Animation