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Kids Crafts: Animation For Kids

October 12, 2011

animation with kidsWelcome back to Kids Get Crafty! Bringing you “Animation for Kids” – a perfect “craft” for kids, tweens and teens. I am VERY excited about today’s craft, mainly because, the kids were SOOO excited. They loved every minute of it and it was a great great great afternoon spent. Actually… it was several afternoon’s spent at both Red Ted HQ and the neighbour’s house. From our 3yrs old to my neighbour’s 9yrs old, to my husband and I – we all loved it!

This is most definitely an activity which is all about the process and less about the result… though of course we love our results! And this a really good activity to get those “reluctant non crafters” to have a go and have some fun – in order to be creative you don’t have to stick to the “traditional mediums”. With digital technology, photography and now animation are easily accessible to our youngest readers. And does your child say playdough is for babies? Give them animation and plasticine and a whole new activity begins!

So… what made us want to have a go? A few weeks ago my lovely neighbour came back from a festival weekend away and showed me this:

animation with kids

Her 9 year old son had made these plasticine owls. I thought they were FABULOUS. Then she told me, that at the festival they had also made a movie with it. I was balled over. The children were so enthusiastic! How many 9 year olds do you get telling you that plasticine is great? Most say that that is something for babies. No more! Plasticine is the new craft for bigger kids.. especially if you then go and animate with them.

And here is what his younger brother made:

plasticine for kids

(a crab and a scorpion)

I am SO PROUD of both boys! And they are not even mine!

By coincidence Hue Animation contacted me and asked me whether we would be interested in their animation package. Absolutely! And a few days later we received our complimentary green camera and software. Wow. What fun indeed.

Red Ted isn’t really old enough to work with plasticine – or not in a way that would be useful for animation. So we grabbed some favourite toys and crafts (our Gumnut Octopuses) and made these:

  • Love Octopuses – was my first “trial of the camera” – not bad for a first go?
  • The Train – was Red Ted’s first go – you see the odd hand!
  • The Tunnel – was Red Ted’s and daddy’s go.
  • Cheeky – another go at the train and the octopus. Look, no hands!

Want more examples of Kids’ animations? Check out the Zu3D gallery. I could spend hours Ooohing and Aaahing! Primary school children made many of the entries!

Red Ted totally got it and adored it. I admit that the first video was slightly “stressful” – how do you explain to a 3yrs old “not to touch or lean into the picture”. But when he saw the result he totally understood and was very good at keeping his hands away when the next shot was being snapped. He had lots of fabulous ideas for more videos. We just had to help him moderate it into something “realistic” – i.e. we had a small ish space and it is difficult to have things flying through the air!

I think for our next attempt we will create a “proper stage” – make it a real craft extravaganza! In the meantime, some top tips:

1) Keep it simple to begin with

2) Sellotape things down (e.g. our tunnel)

3) Use clever things like bluetak or these great clear Scotch Restickable Tabs if you want to make things walk up the side of things (we only thought of this AFTER we had our hands on show!).

I will not explain how to use the software – as we are only “just learning the ropes” ourselves – and I could write an essay on tips and tricks. However, I am not the most techie person and I was able to make a basic video with Red Ted within minutes. Combining them took my a tiny bit longer, but again, it was pretty intuitive and not rocket science. I think it is the software combine with the funky camera that makes this a really fun activity (and possibly gift?). I have made mini videos before, painstakingly taking photo by photo and adding these to a movie maker programme. It was a horrendous tideous affair, whilst this was quick, fun, easy and terribly rewarding!

Hue Animation rocks! And I recommend it to everyone!!! I reckon this would make a FABULOUS Christmas Day activity. And we are going to make it a tradition in our house to make a Christmas movie a year (watch this space). And I know that in now time my kids will be expert at this and know how to use the software much better than I ever will!

 

This is only a sponsored post in as much as that Hue Animations gave us the camera and software to use. However, I was keen to write a post about this already and I was not obliged to share our thoughts with you. All thoughts and words are mine.

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Filed Under: Kids Craft 44 Comments

Comments

  1. Liz Burton says

    October 12, 2011 at 8:49 am

    That is quite simply the coolest thing ever!!

    If Santa doesn’t bring me one of those then I’m going to refuse to believe in him anymore!

    Reply
  2. HELEN says

    October 12, 2011 at 8:51 am

    that’s brilliant! I remember making something like this at school over *cough* 25 years ago……I so wish we still had the video. I wonder if it could be done with a regular camera & limited software such as Windows Movie Maker??

    Reply
  3. Red Ted Art says

    October 12, 2011 at 9:11 am

    Helen – yes you can – have made similar before – but MUCH shorter and takes MUCH MUCH MUCH longer. And is so much harder to add music and titles etc…

    Reply
  4. Susan, the Book Chook says

    October 12, 2011 at 9:11 am

    Go Red Ted!

    Reply
  5. Jennie @ Edspire says

    October 12, 2011 at 9:54 am

    So pleased that you like the pack. As you know my husband made the software Zu3D and I thought these links might be helpful to readers
    One is about using animation with young children and the other is to a video tutorial for the software. You can download the software for free too if people want to try before they buy. Or are too impatient to wait for Father Christmas x Great review x

    http://www.edspire.co.uk/year_2011/01/17/zu3d-%E2%80%93-learning-through-play-in-the-early-years/

    http://www.edspire.co.uk/year_2011/01/17/software-review-zu3d/

    http://www.zu3d.com/tutorial-video

    http://www.zu3d.com/download

    Reply
  6. Ali says

    October 12, 2011 at 10:07 am

    That is great, we will put it on our christmas list, it looks like so much fun.

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 12, 2011 at 10:08 am

      Come back in a day or two.. we are giving one away!!! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Cathy @ NurtureStore says

    October 12, 2011 at 10:29 am

    This looks such fun to make – I bet the kids loved it.

    Reply
  8. Rebecca English says

    October 12, 2011 at 11:05 am

    That is brilliant! I can’t believe you can achieve such wonderful results on a home computer – it’s fantastic. Amazing you can do something like that with a three year old. Will be checking out for more updates on this. My daughter would love it!

    Reply
  9. Kate OKeeffe says

    October 12, 2011 at 11:45 am

    Kids I look after have been playing with (and kept busy with) Hue Animation for a while now and LOVE it.. There is no end to what you can do and it’s very easy. The older kids like that you can upload videos to YouTube really easily. P.s Clear fishing wire can help things fly!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 12, 2011 at 11:47 am

      Oooh I have some fishing wire!!! Thank you for the top tip!! 😉

      Reply
  10. sunnymama says

    October 12, 2011 at 11:58 am

    This is really great and looks like a lot of fun too! 🙂

    Reply
  11. Esther says

    October 12, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    That is brilliant! Love it!

    Reply
  12. La-La's Home Daycare says

    October 12, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    I’m glad I found my way here! Those are so cute!

    Reply
  13. Emma @Mummymummymum says

    October 12, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    WOW!!! That is amazing. I will have to try it with Zak. xx

    Reply
  14. Annie says

    October 12, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    Honk Honk! I love it! I am planning a lego mans disco video when I get time – will keep you posted!
    It’s so much fun!

    Love the video – go you!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 12, 2011 at 6:50 pm

      Annie – a lego man disco!??!?! HOW COOL! Can’t wait to see it 🙂

      Reply
  15. @BlueBearWood says

    October 12, 2011 at 6:41 pm

    Fantastic. I want one. It’s going on the Christmas list!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 12, 2011 at 6:50 pm

      Blue Bear Wood – HOORAY! 🙂

      Reply
  16. Maxine says

    October 12, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    Absolutely fantastic – did an animation with my daughter and hubby last year involving dogs peeing up trees (daughter thought it was hilarious) and a mouse eating cheese. Desperately need to dig it out and watch it now. Such fun to make!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 12, 2011 at 9:23 pm

      Ooooh can you share it online? Would love to see it!

      Reply
  17. Maxine says

    October 13, 2011 at 7:04 am

    Ha! Found it in hubby’s flickr stream, please forgive the toilet humour. We did enjoy doing this so much. Happy days! http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanbarry/5200994979/

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 13, 2011 at 8:38 am

      Maxine – I LOVE it! Go you. You must have taken TONS of shots!

      Reply
  18. maria says

    October 13, 2011 at 7:55 am

    This is such fun, my son would love it! He’s always making little videos with toys and this software would really make the animation so much better…I am going to try out the software immediately:)
    Thanksxx

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 13, 2011 at 8:26 am

      And the giveaway is now live: https://www.redtedart.com/2011/10/13/giveaway-make-your-own-animations-kit/ 🙂

      Reply
  19. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    October 13, 2011 at 12:16 pm

    VERY cool Maggy!! I love animation especially for kds or done by them. The kids at our school (year 3 and above) used to use the MacBook with a camera attached, as it has a pretty good and simple editing software too. One day, when I’m big enough, I’ll have a go! 😉

    Reply
  20. Maxine says

    October 13, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    Maggy, it was all done on an iPhone, amazingly. My other half was mainly responsible, being the resident pet geek. My favourite bit was helping my daughter make the characters!!

    Reply
  21. Janelle says

    October 14, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    I’ve always wanted to try stop motion animation. Love your videos.

    Reply
  22. Chris at Thinly Spread says

    October 14, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    How cool is that?! My second son in particular is a keen animator, I feel inspired to get him and Bonus Boy working together on a project. Many thanks for linking up to Something for the Weekend! x

    Reply
  23. adele says

    October 14, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    how amazing is that!! I think I have watched the video about five times through out today hahaha.

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 14, 2011 at 7:10 pm

      Adele – that makes me VERY happy 🙂 we keep watching it too 😉

      Reply
  24. JDaniel4's Mom says

    October 14, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    I love this project. The music you selected is such fun!

    Reply
  25. Carolyn says

    October 16, 2011 at 3:24 am

    Fantastic activity! The boys have done an excellent job here…love it!

    Reply
  26. Michelle Breum says

    October 18, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    How fun! I just bought some animation software and my ten year old son and I are trying to learn it. We bought Toon Boom Allstars. I’ll be looking into this one. Thanks for sharing your fun!

    Reply
  27. Jacke says

    October 18, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    Wow! That is very cool. I think you are correct that this would be a great way to get the craft reluctant child interested. Great job!

    Reply
  28. Aimee says

    October 21, 2011 at 6:01 pm

    These are super cool- will have to pin this for when I go back to teach art! Thank you for linking up to the The Sunday Showcase

    Reply
  29. Sofia's Ideas says

    October 28, 2011 at 6:40 am

    This is fantastic! My daughter has been trying to make movies, trying different methods. I can not wait to show her this post! 🙂

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      October 28, 2011 at 7:04 am

      Oooh I hope she likes it!! 🙂

      Reply
  30. Trenton Moore says

    January 1, 2019 at 2:01 am

    Ah, I wish I’d gotten this for my son for Christmas! Too late now… I’ll have to keep it in mind for his birthday. This would be such a great thing for me and him to do together 🙂

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      January 6, 2019 at 11:20 am

      Oh yes what a fun idea for next year!

      Reply

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